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Big Cat Balloon Store teaches students workplace skills

Mead High School Developmental Learning Center teacher Beth Dolezal, center, gives balloon inflation instructions to her students, Katy Schuler, left, and Bryce Lewellen, right, before opening the Big Cat Balloon Shop for mid-morning business Tuesday in Mead. (PHOTOS BY DAN PELLE)
Mead High School Developmental Learning Center teacher Beth Dolezal, center, gives balloon inflation instructions to her students, Katy Schuler, left, and Bryce Lewellen, right, before opening the Big Cat Balloon Shop for mid-morning business Tuesday in Mead. (PHOTOS BY DAN PELLE)
By Jody Lawrence-Turner jodyl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5593

Maneuvering down a Mead High School hallway with 18 balloons in hand is awkward, but a successful delivery has its rewards.

“People act excited and glad,” said Jacob Oquendo, 21, a student who helps run the Big Cat Balloon Shop inside the high school. Plus, recipients usually give the delivery person a hug.

Teacher Beth Dolezal has been on a mission to open a balloon shop with her special-education students since arriving at Mead two years ago.

The balloon store opened in the high school Oct. 1. The business serves as part of a bigger program to help students in special education, ages 18-21, transition from school into the workforce.

The kids have named the program Project DISCOVER. (The acronym stands for determination, independence, self-advocacy, community exploration, obtaining new skills, vocational training, education and relationships.) The students keep a journal, make goals for themselves, learn how to run a meeting and are taught to advocate for themselves.

The transition program at Mead works in partnership with local businesses, so in addition to selling balloons, the students also work a few hours at Albertsons, Poole’s Public House and Wonderland Family Fun Center.

Students are gaining first-hand experience at the balloon store by taking orders, working a cash register, delivering good customer service, taking inventory, bundling balloons and organizing stock.

“It’s a good thing to learn about,” said Oquendo. “We are learning about the building more and how to deliver balloons.”

If the students aren’t busy, Dolezal has a couple sayings to help them remember what to do: “If there’s time to talk, there’s time to stock. If there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean.”

The students sell balloons to anyone who calls in an order. People can pick up orders during school hours, she said. “We deliver to people in the school the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes of the school day.”

She added, “We tell students they are delivering happiness.”