Sixth-grader Joshua Harrington was having a hard time getting through to Grant Wilcox, but he kept trying.
“Grant, what war were you in?” he said loudly to Wilcox, a hard-of-hearing resident at Richmond Beach Rehabilitation, a home for the elderly.
“What?” Wilcox said.
“What war were you in?” Harrington repeated, politely.
“What’s that?” Wilcox said.
Harrington kept trying until Wilcox heard.
“The second World War,” Wilcox finally replied. “I was an intelligence officer.”
“Weren’t you also a scout master?” Harrington said. Wilcox had been a scout master, and also a lawyer.
Given the barriers to communication, Harrington and fellow student Pakako Masai know a lot about Wilcox. They’ve been visiting him this year with the rest of Tom Hayes’ class at Syre Elementary School. Every two students are paired with a resident. The class’ fifth visit was Thursday, May 8.
“It’s really fun,” Masai said. “You can spend time with the residents and learn what they’ve done.”
“We can give them joy,” Harrington said.
One of the project’s goals is to help students understand and better deal with people of different ages, teacher Hayes said.
“It’s to help our kids have friendships outside the normal friendships they form with their peers,” he said.
Student Nicolas Lasnier has struck up a friendship with resident Roy Colson. In addition to school visits, the student has had dinner and lunch with Colson on his own time.
May 8, they sat at a table together, pouring over note cards about ancient Egypt for a school project Lasnier is doing.
“I think it’s been very informative,” Colson said. “He’s a smart boy. Everyone who’s met him thinks he’s smart.”
Lasnier wants to keep visiting Colson.
“I don’t feel just because the year is done or the project is done I should stop,” Lasnier said. “I’ve gotten to know him well and just there are so many things to learn from him.”
On the other side of the room, students Lilly Brous and Ann Tardiff were showing resident Jill Hacker Web sites for information about ancient Egypt on their laptop.
“Oh my goodness,” said Hacker, staring at the screen.
“The most interesting fact I found on this Web site is they wore a new wig every day,” said Brous.
Brous and Tardiff have enjoyed hearing Hacker’s stories. On an earlier visit, the assignment was to find out more about the residents’ lives.
“We asked who was the meanest man in town,” said Tardiff. “It was her fifth grade teacher.”
Before she came to the center, Brous thought the project would be boring, but meeting Hacker changed her mind, she said.
“I’ve gotten to know Jill, and it’s really fun,” she said.
Resident Lori Billy’s stories have also hooked students Chloe Claridad and Micheale McGee.
“Her dad was murdered,” Claridad explained.
“She spent a lot of time in the hospital because she was always sick and her brothers had to teach her to learn more things,” said McGee.
Billy looks forward to the visits too.
“It gets you out of your room,” she said. “I do crosswords and am always reading — it’s good to have kids around.”
This is the third year for the project, and unlike other years, several children have lost their resident partners. Two of them have died, two moved away and one is in the hospital.
During the class’ visit, students Aiden Johnson and Ali-Reza Goudarzi were paired up with resident Gereldine Cummins, since their usual partner Kay Cameron was sick.
Cummins wore flowers in her hair. She always has, she said. It was her second visit with students, and she’s learned something, she said.
“I have learned that certain nice young men are gentlemen,” she said. “And smart.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
