By Elly Benin

Pacelli Catholic Schools

While many individuals think of Valentine’s Day as another Hallmark holiday and rush to purchase their romantic interests, such as: chocolates and roses, students at Pacelli Catholic Schools took a different approach to love on Feb. 11: willing the good of another and making a sincere gift of oneself toward the elderly in the community.  Amidst the jobs, sports, and other activities high school students are involved in, Pacelli students planned every aspect of a nursing home social in which they spent quality time with the residents of St. Mark’s Living in conversations, bingo games, and little acts of service.

The idea for the nursing home social originated with a challenge I, as their theology teacher, issued to students the previous academic year: to find a meaningful way to share the love of Christ with others through service in the community.  This challenge was re-issued to the students preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation this year.  While students remained free to choose the type of service project they needed to do in order to fulfill requirements leading up to the reception of the sacrament, the majority of them opted to work together to put together this social.

I desired them to see this as an opportunity to challenge themselves, to share joy with others, to find ways to step out of their comfort zones, and to hone some leadership skills by taking initiative.  Their faith should be something that is lived beyond their trips to Church on Sundays; the good they do should not simply be done out of requirement but because it is good in and of itself and also because of their love for God and neighbor.

Some acts of love remained hidden from the residents: some students assisted in setting up for the social despite being unable to attend due to other obligations while other students switched work shifts just so they could spend a little time with the residents before having to return to work.  Some acts of love required the students to challenge themselves to get out of their comfort zone.  A number of students had to face their anxieties about approaching a stranger and starting a conversation having no idea how he or she might respond.  Sophomore, Myra Kraemer, quickly realized upon speaking with the residents, “just because the people are older than us, they aren’t that different from us. I enjoyed seeing their joy over little things like bingo, prizes, and food.  It taught me that projects don’t have to be a lot of work to bring people a lot of joy.”  It did not take long for the rest of the students to make connections, share hearty laughs, and even learn words of wisdom from their elders despite some initial shyness.

Pal Koak, a sophomore at Pacelli, commented regarding his experiences, “I enjoyed most about the Valentine’s nursing home social talking to people older than [I].”  He had been given some life advice by a Korean War veteran to “be kind to others and treat them as you’d like to be treated.”

The event became so popular this year among the residents that the staff at St. Mark’s had to set up additional seating!  Many residents left smiling and some even lingered as the students began to take down decorations.