B.E.S.T. Students Volunteer with Seniors
July 2008
buildOn members at Bowen Environmental Studies Team (B.E.S.T.) High School maintained their success for a second school year, volunteering regularly at an organization called Villa Guadalupe Senior Services, Inc. The students volunteered on a bi-monthly basis between the months of February and May.
Villa Guadalupe is a senior residential facility located in the heart of the South Chicago community, also home to the B.E.S.T. High School campus.
To ensure that the students expectations for service work and education were met, our B.E.S.T. buildOn Co-Advisors, Mr. Salvador Velasco and Mr. Philip Kendall, designated time during our regular buildOn after-school meetings to coach, educate and prepare the students before we arrived at Villa Guadalupe.
During each volunteer visit, ten to fifteen buildOn members spent valuable time putting a smile on the seniors' faces by maintaining personable one-on-one conversations, serving refreshments and facilitating fun activities such as Bingo, board games and dancing for two or more hours after-school.
It was a pleasure to observe the majority of the seniors and students both come out of their comfort zones. By coordinating these interactive activities, communication between the students and seniors was strengthened due to the welcoming environment of Villa Guadalupe.
The seniors also revealed lively personalities that surprised and challenged our students to embrace a different perspective about the process of reaching maturity. Throughout this on-going partnership, all of the students learned the importance of having patience, compassion and respect for seniors in a fun intergenerational environment.
These wonderful youth development activities were all made possible by the following individuals and partners: Villa Guadalupe Senior Services, Inc. (Ms. Julia Lopez) The City of Chicago (Dept. of Senior Services), B.E.S.T. Service-Learning Coordinator (Ms. Starlet Jenkins), B.E.S.T. High School Teachers (Mr. Salvador Velasco / Mr. Philip Kendall) and the buildOn Coordinator (Mr. André Darey).