Burbank high school students pair up with senior citizens for a day of shared learning
Burroughs High School senior Jackie Gonzalez, left, shows her Senior For a Day companion, Lynn White-Shelby, 81 of Burbank, the symbolic self portrait sculpture she is working on in the advanced art class on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
John Burroughs High School senior Jackie Gonzalez sat quietly in her English class Tuesday morning, working on an outline for an essay about Roger Ebert.
With a pen and paper in front of her, Jackie flipped through an information packet to get information on the famed film critic. Sitting next to her was Lynn White-Shelby, chairwoman of the Burbank Senior Citizen Board, who was using her smartphone to pull up Ebert’s biography.
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On Tuesday, several seniors from John Burroughs and Burbank high schools were paired with senior citizens from the community to partake in “Senior for a Day.”
White-Shelby, 81, shadowed Jackie during her first two classes of the day to see what it is like to be a high school student in 2016.
Burroughs holds a special place in White-Shelby’s heart. Her husband is an alumnus.
“I’ve been on two Burroughs High School reunion committees,” she said.
Burroughs High School senior Jackie Gonzalez, left, smiles with her Senior For a Day companion, Lynn White-Shelby, 81 of Burbank, at the school on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
Earlier in the morning, White-Shelby was in Jackie’s advanced art class, where the students were busy making sculptures that reflect themselves. Jackie opted to use a foam board, cutting out her initials and styling them to look like a neoclassical piece one would see from the Getty Museum.
“We’ve been sharing our experiences,” Jackie said. “She was telling me how it was different from when she was in school, how women have more opportunities and the Broad [museum].”
The Burbank Unified School District and the Senior Citizens Board have been organizing the program for a few years as a way to connect with the youth and to let people know that Burbank has an active committee looking out for the interests of its senior citizens, White-Shelby said.
White-Shelby volunteers for the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley and La Providencia Guild of Children’s Hospital. She was a physical education teacher at Franklin High School in Highland Park for two years before raising three children.
Beth Morrison, Jackie’s art teacher at Burroughs, said the program is a great opportunity for the students to learn about what life was like 50 to 60 years ago.
“It’s a fabulous opportunity for our students to meet new people and learn about other life experiences,” she said. “It’s a really fun combination.”
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Anthony Clark Carpio, [email protected]
Twitter: @acocarpio
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