Helping Hands

Gabriella Ilac has been a diligent para helper for the Polson High School Special Education program for the last two years of her high school career. Her introduction to the program was more coincidental than intentional. She’d been looking for a class to use as a teacher’s assistant period, and special education happened to be the only one that worked with her schedule. It turned out to be the best thing for her. Ilac has always “liked helping kids” so she gave it a try. Some of her favorite memories from the program have been assisting the community with various activities, such as stocking shelves at the food bank, cleaning the gym, and helping at the local bakery. The special education program helped Ilac get out of her comfort zone and allowed her to try new things. She recalls having to judge bocce ball at a Special Olympics competition with only two days to learn the rules of the game. It was a difficult thing for her to do because she didn’t feel “confident enough” and not everyone was kind when she made a mistake. 

During her time with special education, Ilac connected with Kris Kelly who teaches the classes. She loved seeing the dedication that Kelly gives her students. When a student has an interest in something she plans field trips to help them learn about that subject. “She brought me in and helped me make sure I got through school,” said Ilac. Kelly helped her pursue her interests such as baking sourdough bread. Kelly gifted her a starter kit so she could make her first loaf. She loves how Kelly is always “very caring and she’ll do anything she can to help you out.” Ilac had a difficult time choosing between a career in the medical field and one within special education, but ultimately she chose to become an x-ray or radiology technician and pursue further study at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell. 

Regardless of whether she continued with a career in special education, Ilac is thankful she was able to work within the program. Ilac finds it rather “upsetting how many people are not nice and just make fun of [special education students] and are very rude.” These students are happy, kind kids, and others “really don’t know much about them as outsiders,” so unkindness can be extremely hurtful. “You walk into that classroom and they just put a smile on your face, and you put a smile on theirs,” she said.