By Jenn Hall / St. Joseph News-Press, Mo./TNS
PUPILS at Oak Grove Elementary School in Missouri and residents from Carriage Square Living and Rehabilitation Center embarked on a new journey Monday. About a dozen sixth-graders stopped by the home to paint pumpkins, decorate cookies, play games and read books.
The goal is for a different sixth-grade class at the school to visit once a month. The partnership between the students and the residents fits perfectly with what Michael Otto, principal at Oak Grove, said was a mission to create a community betterment plan.
“To help [students] learn respect and empathy,” he said. Students are seeing the value in the visits.
“Sometimes they’re lonely and they don’t have anybody to visit them,” said Rylee Kanatzar, 11. “So they need people to come and visit them. These people are important to visit.”
The school’s Parent-Teacher Association is supporting the project by paying the fees associated with busing the children to the facility. Carriage Square is providing the treats and activity supplies.
The pumpkins on Monday were given by Three Rivers Hospice and Fleek’s Market in Wathena, Kansas. Children and residents were partnered at different tables to create a personal connection.
“It’s about understanding our seniors,” Otto said. “The objective is doing activities, getting to know them through pen pals.”
Between visits, the students will be encouraged to write letters to those living at Carriage Square.
“My grandma was here and we were her very close family and we couldn’t visit her all the time,” said Josh Donaldson, 12. “So I just like that we’re able to visit these people who might not have visitors. I think that’s really cool.”
Monday was the first of many future trips. Courtney Hale, director of admissions and marketing at Carriage Square, said the sixth graders will visit once a month for six months, and Carriage Square also will be busing residents to the Oak Grove for special events.
“It gets sickness, and sometimes, even death, off of their minds when they are with a child,” Otto said.
Sixth-grade teacher Rebecca Bailey hopes the children will walk away with a new respect for their elders in the community.
“It’s a different classroom,” she said.
Bailey said the project can benefit her students, too. Some of the children who may struggle in the classroom are shining at the facility.
“It’s about self worth,” she said. “I think it’s time for those kiddos to get in the community, give back and get involved.”
A few of the kids have never been to a nursing home. Just coming to see the seniors and the reaction they might get from the residents can be scary sometimes. Josh admits he was anxious about the unknown.
“You might burst in to tears about how sad something is or burst in to joy about how happy something is,” he said. “It was actually a really fun time. I’d like to do it again, and we’re coming back in January.”