Students looking to better the community can do so by joining PALS.

“The best thing about PALS is probably having an opportunity to give back to the community,” PALS member Ryan Powers said.

PALS, Peer Assistance and Leadership Students, go to different elementary schools to help at-risk students, new kids at school, and kids with special needs acclimate socially and academically through on-campus peer mediation.

“It’s a very selective nation-wide organization that requires an application to be filled out and a teacher recommendation,” Powers said. “If the application is approved, then there is an interview process, and if that goes well there is then an invitation to join PALS.”

PALS is a two-year course that requires members to earn twenty-five green cord hours each semester.

“We help out with the elementary school field trips, the Plano Balloon Festival and the Special Olympics.” PALS sponsor Lonnie Jordan said.

On top of the service programs, each PALS member goes through a semester of training and is then assigned a “pal” from an elementary school. Twice a week, PALS members visit their assigned students in class and get to know them.

“We help the little pals get out of their bubble,” Josh Carpenter said. “We let them know that there is someone who cares about them.”

by Imani Edouard-Sierra

Photos by Daniel Oleson