SoRo High School Students Help Others at Tunbridge Fair

By Anneke Van Fossen

My name is Anneke Van Fossen and I am a senior at South Royalton High School. I will be writing news articles about events, students, and teachers at South Royalton School as a community service project. I intend to strengthen the connection between the school community and the surrounding towns by providing a unique window into the activities at our school.

Last Friday, Sept. 15, a group of 68 South Royalton High School students traveled together to the Tunbridge World’s Fair to offer a valuable service to the elderly members of local senior citizen organizations. The students, in pairs, escorted these women and men around the fairgrounds in wheelchairs, visiting the events and exhibits of interest to the older generation.

South Royalton students participate annually in this "wheelchair pushing," as it is now referred to, as a community service project. This year, over 90 students originally signed up to go, but the list had to be reduced. Although several of these students readily volunteered to miss school, each one returned at the end of the day with a newly acquired appreciation for their older companions. They discovered that, without their assistance, these people would not have had a chance to experience the excitement of a day at the fair. The students could not imagine being deprived of this and felt satisfaction in being available to provide it for these senior citizens.

Two students discovered that sense of humor does not diminish with age. Another was glad to help "their" senior citizen play a few extra games of Bingo. One woman even "won" the pig races, receiving a medal, a poster, and free ice cream. Her students were glad to watch the potbellied racers with her because they had found out that she adores pigs.

After only three hours, the students and the senior citizens had become familiar with one another, sharing reminiscences, jokes, and a common enjoyment of a timeless local tradition; the Tunbridge Fair.

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