PHOTOS: First Annual Unified Champions Kickball Match
Trojans and Wildcats clashed after a ceremony to celebrate the new field at Trojan Stadium.
On Wednesday, May 4, students from Yucca Valley High School and Twentynine Palms High School met at Trojan Stadium for the 1st Annual Unified P.E. Kickball Match. As a drone flew above the field to document the event, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to commemorate the new field. Next, sophomore Chloe Skinta sang the national anthem while families and friends filled the stands.
Soon, the match was on, and it was action-packed. The final score may have been lopsided (TPHS had several home runs in a single inning), but the real winners were everyone who participated in the event or watched from the stands.
According to Adapted P.E. Specialist Angela Gay, Yucca Valley High School’s designation as a Unified Champion School allows students to gain “comradery, friendship, and just feeling like they’re a part of the world. Our students are usually isolated and they don’t get to get out much. This allows them to make friends, and they love interacting.”
Between Unified P.E., the Better Together Club, and Leadership class, there are many ways for any student on campus to get involved in the fun and make new friends along the way.
Senior Unified P.E. student Cambria Pizzuto said she loves being involved with the program. “There’s so much to learn. You learn to love who they are,” she said of her classmates. “They’re really good people.” She described the kickball match as “exciting,” saying of the participants, “They love it. They love cheering, playing, all of it.”
Second period and advisory students filled the stands with delight to watch the two teams challenge one another, and just like at every other Trojan event, varsity cheer was there to lead the way. “We had fun cheering on the teams,” said senior Cheer Captain Jenna Currier. She was glad cheer was there to spread spirit. “It’s great for us to be able to pump the crowd up and cheer on the community.”
Over the years, the program’s successes have become evident in the relationships formed among students over time. “Since we started this program back in 2018,” said Gay, “all the students will come sit together at lunch, pep assemblies, they text each other on the phone…it’s created a huge friendship, and creates a chance for all students to be athletes as well.”
