Students at Hexter Elementary are learning more than just reading, writing and arithmetic.
They are learning to care for their elders.
The school recently adopted Autumn Leaf Retirement Community, and students and Autumn Leaf residents do special projects with and for each other.
The new program has a two-fold purpose, supporters say. It teaches children life-lessons about caring, and it gives the elderly needed attention and joy.
“I think this whole thing has changed the spirit of the school,” says DeAnne Warren, a parent who helped set up the program.
“Everybody needs to be needed, and we’re giving these students an opportunity to do something other than taking out the garbage,” Warren says.
Warren came up with the idea when she and her two daughters, Jessica and Whitney, visited a grandparent in a nursing facility last summer. She says she was amazed at how the visit affected her daughters, and she thought other children would benefit from the experience.
“The more I thought about it, I thought it would be an unlimited opportunity,” Warren says.
Hexter’s School Centered Education Council and Autumn Leaf agreed to the adoption in September. Since then, students have made Halloween door decorations and other art for Autumn Leaf residents. At the school’s Halloween carnival, residents were escorted by students. And Autumn Leaf hosted an open house for students in November.
“The residents are just hungry for this kind of interaction,” Warren says.
A similar program is at Lake Highlands Elementary with C.C. Young Memorial Home. Lake Highlands students are pen pals with C.C. Young residents, in addition to doing performances and art work for C.C. Young.
Autumn Leaf administrator Paul Parshal says there is more going on then just kind deeds.
“We feel like we’re trying not to build programs here, we’re trying to build relationships,” Parshal says.
He’s hoping the students and residents will find companionship they both need. Many of the residents have families, he says, but their families can’t visit all the time. And some of the students don’t have grandparents they can interact with on a regular basis.
“It’s a very positive, needed thing,” Parshal says. “Some of the residents may not be forgotten, but some are isolated.”
Some of the more active Autumn Leaf residents want to become involved in the school by performing show-and-tells and organizing other activities for the students. Parshal says many of the retirees have a lot to offer because of their life experiences.
“I think this will be met with great reception from the students,” Parshal says.
Hexter principal Martha Lochner says the students are excited about the program.
“I do believe the boys and girls are going to be extremely satisfied in a way we’ve never been able to give them,” Lochner says.
“I think they will get an appreciation of the fact that people of all ages are part of society, together. It’s not our school, it’s everybody’s. It’s not our retirement, it’s all of ours.”
