Goodwin Living Teams Up With Local High School to Benefit Seniors of All Ages

by Kylee Toland Falls Church News-Press

As graduation approaches for a number of high school seniors, residents at Goodwin Living Alexandria and seniors at Wakefield High School in Arlington are benefitting from each other educationally and socially.

For the past few years, Goodwin Living has partnered with Communities in Schools — a non-profit organization that works with schools across the country in establishing relationships between public high schools and community partners. The program they have created “Seniors for Seniors” allows Goodwin residents to assist Wakefield seniors with their senior projects — a requirement for graduation — by providing support and guidance.

Jackie Ruoff, Wakefield’s coordinator for Communities in Schools, said this specific program allows residents and students to work together virtually on the senior’s research paper and a 25-minute presentation. This includes figuring out which “areas of focus” students need support in, as well as working on time management, writing, editing and presentation practice.

“Students at Wakefield have learned that there are people in our community who are willing to support them, even if they have never met them before,” Ruoff said.

Students who join the program often have “extra barriers” and lack of “key players” in their support systems. For Goodwin residents, Ruoff said they have a chance to help the next generation of students, as well as support the community around them.

“In this particular program, resident volunteers play a key role in shaping students’ world view,” Ruoff said. “They show students that there are people out there who are strangers — at the start — and totally willing to step up and give their time to push students to be their best.”

Goodwin residents and husband and wife Pat and Irma Canan have been involved with the program since the fall of 2021, and are currently helping their third Wakefield senior, Khristel Perez. Both Pat and Irma were previously involved in education, as the former was a high school physics teacher and the latter was a director of international programs for higher education.

“It’s just something that really drew us,” Irma said when asked about first finding out about the program. “[Pat and I] wanted to do something that would give back to the community.”

Reflecting on being both a former high school teacher and student, Pat said he thinks this program would have been beneficial for himself in order to have a more “structured effort and magnitude” when graduating. For Irma, her previous work with international programs grew her interest in people who are learning to function in a different language. She said Khristel has taught her that there is “hope for the future.”

“She’s been really fun to work with,” Irma said when talking about Khristel. “I think that her project isn’t some mechanical effort to try to fill the requirement, it’s passiondriven.”

For Goodwin residents who aren’t currently involved with the program, Pat said it is a good way for senior citizens to work with kids and help them “along a path.”

“That’s one of the things about