HUNTINGTON BEACH : Seniors, Students to Teach Each Other

About 20 senior citizens visited Huntington Beach High School on Thursday to kick off an “intergenerational” educational program in which the adults will give students an account of their lives and times through a series of oral histories.

The senior citizens also will be tutors in some classes and help out in other ways.

In exchange, high school students will teach the senior citizens about computers and other technological developments.

One of the participants is Wheeler L. Birdwell Jr., 76, who graduated from Huntington Beach High in 1935.

Birdwell said that back then girls were required to wear uniforms of white blouses and blue skirts four days a week. They were allowed to wear “street clothes” the other day, he said. There was no dress code for boys, he said.

There have been other changes in the 57 intervening years, he said.

“In our days, holding a girl’s hand was a major move,” he said. “I went out with the same girl in my junior and senior years, and I don’t believe I kissed her one time.”

Thursday’s visit and luncheon buffet was hosted by the school’s United Students Club, a group composed of various nationalities and dedicated to promoting understanding and bringing together different cultures and age groups.

“It’s a good idea,” Patricia Gonzales, 18, president of the club and a native of Mexico, said of the program. “It makes (senior citizens) feel young and gets them involved in school.”

Gonzales said the United Students Club and the senior citizens have joined forces before.

Last year club members built a float for the seniors that won second place in the city’s Fourth of July Parade competition, Patricia said.

The senior citizens reciprocated by donating $4,000 to the new Huntington Youth Shelter that will accommodate 18 runaway youngsters when it opens, probably next spring.

Thursday’s visit with the seniors was designed to make them comfortable and feel welcome, Principal Jim Staunton said.

Staunton said the oral history project “will make a connection” for his students and make historical events a reality.

The Huntington Beach Union High School District applied in November to the state Department of Education for a grant of $150,000 to operate the intergenerational program for three years.

School officials should learn next month whether the money will be awarded.

Staunton said he intends to push the program along, with or without the grant. “We have the volunteers and great kids wanting to help. That’s all we need,” he said.

“The (Michael E. Rodgers) Senior Center is less than a mile from here. It makes no sense not to work with the center,” Staunton said.

One of the participants, Larry Murray, 70, could give today’s students a firsthand look at several wars, having served in the Navy during World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars.