By Stephanie Byrnes

It’s Friday morning, and while high school teenagers nationwide begin to send mass text messages securing weekend plans, there are a few Cabot High School students who already have dates with some very special people — elementary students in their community.

Since 1990, Cabot High has provided students with an amazing opportunity to connect with their community in a very personal way through the PALS program.  Started as a pilot program of the National Future Farmers of America, PALS is a volunteer activity that links exceptional high school students with struggling and hurting elementary students.
After going through a rigorous application process and filling out an interest survey, high school students are matched with local second-, third- and fourth-graders who have been placed in the program by parent, teacher or counselor request due to their needs and struggles.
The PALS group then meets weekly with their little pals, building a friendship with them by reading, flying kites and playing on the playground. In the fall and spring, there are special events for the children – an annual fishing derby in conjunction with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and a Healthy Lifestyles Festival complete with games and crafts.
Students involved in the program, however, know they are doing much more than entertaining a child for an hour every week. Cabot High School Junior Ashley Baldwin described her experience as something not only rewarding for the child, but also for her. “Before PALS, I was naïve to the fact that some kids just don’t have the same kind of life I am blessed with,” she stated. “All of the things that these kids have to deal with seriously impacts their motivation for success in school, but being able to help makes me feel like I have a purpose. PALS has opened my eyes to the needs that these kids have and has allowed me to help.”
Cabot Senior Jessica Orr chose PALS to help a child get through similar circumstances. “After I lost my mom to cancer I realized that I needed someone to talk to,” she said. “Then I asked myself, what about the kids who are younger than me that go through this? Now I feel like I am on top of the world, being able to help these kids.”
When PALS started 18 years ago, no one expected it to grow as much as it has. Now the largest PALS program in the nation, Cabot High has nearly 100 PALS volunteers and has been presented at national FFA conventions as a model for what America’s teens can accomplish.
The program’s facilitator, Kristyn Sheets, sees the impact in the lives of former mentored children. “In the last few years the program has come full circle; many of our original ‘little pals’ are now old enough to be mentors in the same program that helped them. That to me is proof that there is a benefit to this program,” she says. “And at the more immediate level, the children’s self esteem and excitement about school improves as they start to make better choices about behavior and class work. For many of our ‘little pals’ simply having someone to talk to makes all the difference in the world.”
Sheets also notices a difference in her high school students. “My high school students start to put someone else before themselves. When they don’t feel well, or maybe they broke up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, they come to PALS anyway because they know that a child has been waiting all week to see them,” she explains. “Throughout the year, I notice that the petty day-to-day complaining about the car or the cell phone takes a drastic dip as these students become much more grateful for their families and the lives they have been blessed with. They learn that someone is watching them, and their actions and choices are important.”
The PALS program is doing so much more than providing a listening ear for children with hardships. It’s teaching high school students that sometimes the most meaningful conversations can take place with an 8-year-old. It’s creating the happiness that comes from watching a fourth-grader excitedly catch his first fish. And it’s helping elementary and high school students alike learn a life lesson that they are sure to never forget – that the world really can be changed by making a difference in the life of a child.