Age is often considered to be one of the greatest indicators of wisdom and knowledge. As people go through the many years of their life, they accumulate countless stories, experiences, and lessons that they are capable of using to guide them through their days. Often, the elders of our society serve as profound sages - dedicated teachers who use their scholarly advice to help guide the younger generations.
This is not to say that members of older generations don’t have some spunk to them, however. In fact, some would argue that the springtime of youth never truly ends.
That mentality was on full display on Friday, February 9, when several senior citizens in the Connally ISD community filled the gym in the administration building for the district’s first community luncheon.
“Our senior citizens are often left in the dark concerning happenings in our school community due to a lack of access to local, specific media,” CISD Superintendent Jill Bottelberghe said. “This is a tremendous problem. These people are still valued stakeholders in our community, and we wanted to do everything that we could to invite them in to be a direct part of our school.”
Invitations were sent out to every household occupied by a citizen over the age of 65. Event organizers had initially hoped for between 30 to 40 people to RSVP for the event, but were blown away by the bombardment of phone calls and email inquiries seeking more information about the festivities.
"It was exciting to see how much interest we had in this event,” CISD administrative assistant Rebekah Els said. “Once the RSVPs started coming in, it was clear that our senior citizens wanted a way to be engaged with our school district. I think it was great not only for the seniors, but also for our students.”
As interest in the luncheon grew, it became apparent that the community was interested in the happenings going on around the various campuses in the district. That led Bottelberghe to challenge every age group to contribute something to the program.
“It was great to receive so many video and photo submissions from each of our campuses that showcase how many great learning opportunities are happening from across the district,” CISD Instructional Technology Specialist John Choins said. “It was encouraging to see our junior high robotics students showcase all that they have learned so far this year; it really demonstrated how they’ve made progress with some of the STEM goals we have on that campus.”
As the participants watched the variety of presentations from each of the campuses, they enjoyed home cooked meal prepared by the high school’s culinary arts program. When they finished eating, they were greeted by members of the elementary school’s Modern Gentlemen program to help clean their table.
“It was a lot of fun to serve the senior citizens,” junior Culinary Cadet DeMontrell Arrington said. “They were really funny and very appreciative. I loved getting the chance to show them what all we do in our culinary program.”
Each of the attendants were given the chance to socialize with one another - giving them an opportunity to connect with friends they hadn’t seen in years or make new relationships with neighbors that they did not even know that they had.
“The meal and entertainment provided by the students was wonderful,” Lacy Lakeview resident Jim Copeland said. “I am very thankful to have had the chance to go, and am thankful for all that the school does for this community.”
As the festivities came to a close, each of the guests were encouraged to stop by a variety of stations throughout the building to receive some Connally ISD swag. Several people left with senior citizen passes to sporting events, hand-crafted Connally magnets, and #CadetStandard t-shirts. Most importantly, they were also given the opportunity to leave their contact information so that they could be kept informed about other community events and initiatives sponsored by the district.
“We were able to add 40 more people to our contact database thanks to this event,” CISD Director of Communications Michael Donaldson said. “That’s 40 more people that can now receive our weekly newsletter, hear about our monthly free food distributions through Shepherd’s Heart, and be kept up to date about all of the great things happening in our schools.”
Moving forward, the district looks forward to finding more ways to engage with its senior citizens. In fact, Ms. Bottelberghe considers it to be one of the most important priorities for her administration.
“I am well aware that there are limited opportunities for our older citizens to connect with one another,” Bottelberghe said. “It is our sincere hope that Connally ISD can become a unifying thread for these individuals, because we truly value their contributions”