MHS student Wendy Chavarria Figueroa talks with a Grandview Heights resident on Wednesday.
Several Marshalltown High School students are making a weekly trip down Olive Street to visit with residents of Grandview Heights Rehab and Healthcare.
The students – who are involved in the high school’s Pier program – and Grandview residents engage in a variety of fun activities, from fingernail painting to board games. Much of the time, the students and residents simply talk about their lives with one another.
“I just like being able to catch up with them, being able to talk to someone,” said MHS senior Alexis Garcia. “We come here every Wednesday.”
Fellow senior student Ariana Buenrostro said she enjoys learning from the Grandview residents she sees regularly.
“I just enjoy coming and talking to them and learning things about them. We talk about what their childhood was like,” she said, adding she especially enjoyed reading to residents during a previous visit.
The Pier students are set to keep visiting Grandview until late April. The Pier is a school-within-a-school program helping juniors and seniors get back on track with credits toward graduation. So far this school year, the Pier has graduated eleven seniors who needed a non-traditional pathway toward graduation.
Luiselijio Alcantar has a conversation with a Grandview resident during Wednesday’s Pier visit.
MHS students Ariana Buenrostro, left, and Alexis Garcia, right, have fun fingernail painting with Grandview Heights residents.
