Giving Back:

Brookstone Seniors Go "Back to School"

Senior residents at Brookstone Estates of Robinson, IL went back to high school recently at the invitation of Robinson High School students enrolled in a career education class called Jobs for Illinois Graduates (JILG).

The invitation was extended because the students, who visited Brookstone several times as part of their class project, learned that many of the residents had never seen the three-year-old school, whose new gymnasium opened just 18 months ago. During their tour, they watched several students climbing the new rock wall in the gym and then visited the main office, the library, a computer lab, and the cafetorium before taking an elevator to the JILG classroom on the second floor.

Once seated in “class,” the seniors enjoyed banana splits or root beer floats while viewing a slideshow of all the visits made by the students to Brookstone Estates throughout the year. Near the end of the visit, the students received a check from Brookstone Estates, the proceeds of a breakfast they helped serve to seniors at the Crawford County Senior Expo.

JILG students “visit different businesses in the area to learn about jobs that may be available in their community or to gain ideas on what they could study at college to help with certain careers,” according to Sherry Smith, executive director of Brookstone Estates of Robinson. “I will be doing mock interview with the students and will be discussing different job opportunities in assisted living next semester.”

Sherry reports the JILG students have read Bingo numbers, distributed prizes and helped with other activities during their visits to Brookstone. For their final visit of the year, they held a carnival with music and games for the residents.
“They print newsletters and we just recently submitted pictures and an article to the local newspaper about our residents taking a tour of the new high school and visiting their classroom,” Sherry reports. “They are such a great group and have been great free publicity for Brookstone. We may even be grooming some future EDs and AEDs.”