SJR students show Fort Garry seniors they’re appreciated

Apart from the occasional stroll around the mall, Isabella Worbansky doesn’t get out as much as she used to but on April 22 she was treated to a night she’ll never forget.

Warbansky is one of 120 senior citizens living in Fort Garry who was a special guest of honour at St. John’s Ravenscourt’s Singing in the Rain gala dinner for seniors.

“I have never seen anything like it, it is was just beautiful and I have been to a lot of dinners and functions,” Worbansky said.

“You hear all the time this negative reaction about young people, but what these kids did went above and beyond.”

The evening began with Worbansky being escorted from home to the school, where she enjoyed a five-course meal and listened to music. She left with a single, long-stemmed white rose and a good impression of today’s youth.

For SJR students, preparations for the evening started months ago when they began contacting seniors at personal care homes, churches and hospitals.

“The objective of the evening was to bring in seniors from the community who don’t get out much and provide them with a real nice dinner and an evening of entertainment,” said Jack Boroditsky, a teacher at St. John’s Ravenscourt.

Boroditsky is the faculty advisor for the Youth Leadership International (YLI) group at SJR that helped organize the event.

YLI is a three-year program dedicated to the development of leadership skills in high school students all over the world. Currently, the SJR chapter is the only Canadian representative.

Dorothy Yu is one of the eight students who were accepted into the program. One of the requirements of her involvement was completing an outreach component.

As a group the students choose to hold the senior gala as a way to create a larger community bond.

“Our main goal for this event was to bridge the gap between seniors and students,” Yu said.

“We wanted to show them that they are appreciated in the community and we are very happy with how things turned out.”

The students of the YIL group also completed a recreational component earlier in the year in which they organized a scavenger hunt for the Grade 6 students who were new to the school.

“It was an innovative way for students to learn about the school and the history behind it, while at the same time challenging them with some academic things like science, math and French,” Boroditsky said.

Beginning July 3, the YIL group will also be leaving on a week-long trip to the Czech Republic where they will take part in a leadership conference. The theme of the conference is the World Cultural Exchange.