7th Grade & St Al's Senior Group Form Friendships

All Saints Academy’s seventh grade and the St. Alphonsus Senior group got together for a day of fun, food, and fellowship the week before Christmas break. “One of the reasons this day was developed was to begin to reach out to our parishes without students on site to bridge that visual gap. Knowing St. Al’s has a very active senior group, I thought that was a good place to start,” explained Mrs. Zimelis, seventh grade homeroom teacher. After contacting Virginia Scholten, St. Al’s Senior Group Coordinator, the planning began. 

“We started the day off with a game of Yummo, complete with prizes! I had a great experience with the seniors. I thought they were very nice and friendly. I especially enjoyed Mrs. Nawrocki who was doing Yummo! She was very energetic and I would love to be like her when I’m a senior. One senior who made an impact on me was the guy who was wearing a rainbow mohawk. He was really funny in many different ways. He kept shouting out different things during Yummo! and his nametag said Rat even though his real name was Pat, which I couldn’t stop laughing about! I thought this was a very good experience for our class, and it was nice to be able to go on a different type of field trip than normal.”  Maddie 

A ventriloquist was the next activity introduced, and there were many puppets to go around!  Students jumped right into this creative activity as the seniors encouraged them with role plays and scenarios.  A short while later, when some joined in the kitchen to make pizzas and decorate cupcakes for lunch, others played card games and learned a little bit more about one another. 

“One of my favorite moments was when one of the seniors and me got into an ‘argument’ about who would win the chili cook-off at St. Al’s this year because I won last year, and she came in second (I think) and it was a lot of fun! Who knew she would be here and we would actually meet!  I can't wait for their trip to middle school this spring!”   Monica

After lunch and games, karaoke was most definitely a hit! In fact, the students would have kept going had we not stopped and moved on to whittling trees (practicing on bars of soap) and tying knot scarves. 

“Going to spend time with the senior citizens was fun and a fantastic social experience. Just talking is one thing and that is sometimes what we limit ourselves to when facing a social situation, but getting to know someone on a personal level is more than enough to get ourselves used to some of the curve-balls that life may throw and some of the windows of opportunity that are left open. Having the seniors come to our school will help shed some more light on our lives and how we spend our days.” Owen 

Noelle pretty much wrapped up the seventh graders’ thoughts with this final quote. “I think this was a good experience for our class because it was nice to get to know other people and people of different ages.  I didn't even know what a senior group was. They had so much energy!”