Volunteer of the Month
Archives

July 2019
Charles Roberts

Photo of Charles Roberts

This month we’d like to give thanks to a familiar face, but one you might not know of in relation to the Highland Senior Center. Charles Roberts is the former editor of the Highland Community News, where he was a big supporter of the Highland Senior Center and would often visit the center to cover our events and activities. However when he retired at the end of 2017, he continued to support our center, but in a different capacity. Before retiring, he asked Jeff, the Outreach Director if we could use some volunteers, as he did not want to become bored. Well, he asked the right person, as he was immediately made a Transportation Assistance Program (TAP) driver. He volunteers to drive just about every weekday, and sometimes on weekends as well. Yet his helping us out doesn’t stop there. He also helps out in our Food Program, three days a weeks. He sorts outs the food we bring in and then helps us to pass it out to our seniors. We would also like to thank his wife, Myrna, who gives him time off from his retirement Honey Do list to help us out.

Featured Class

Spanish
Date: January 17, 2019
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8 members
      $8 non-members
Instructor: Louise Ayala
Location: Game Room
Description: This month we=d like say Bienvenido to our newest instructor, Louise Ayala. Louise will be teaching the Spanish class this fall. She may be new to us, but she’s not new to teaching. She has 25 years of teaching experience, with a K-12 teaching credential. She has mostly taught elementary and spent six years teaching Spanish. Louise learned Spanish as a child growing up in household with two fluent Spanish speaking parents. She also took Spanish in High School and spent her senior year as a tutor and teaching aid, helping to teach. Once in college she decided she only needed one year. As for our class, she will be focusing on conversational Spanish. The class will enable you to carry on limited conversation at first just to get you started. Then as you progress, so will the levels. As for what to bring, just bring a writing instrument and paper. Books might come later. We hope to see you there, or as you will soon be saying, Esperamos verte ahí.

Featured Activity

Ballroom Dancing
Time: Tuesdays 6:30 p.m.
Cost: Free members
      Free non-members
Location: Exercise Room
Description: This month we'd like the light to shine on a place that naturally deserves a spotlite...Ballroom Dancing. Our new evening Ballroom Dance instructor is Ricardo Tomboc. Ricardo takes over for his former instructor, Lucy Guss. The FREE class takes place on Tuesday, starting at 6:30 p.m., and is split into 2 halves a night. The first half is teaching, and the 2nd half is open dance, where generally, advanced dances pair up with beginners. He will also have guest instructors. Although he is an instructor, he enjoys going to other schools to keep up his skills and pick up new techniques. This is why he brings other instructors in. So the students will get a variety of techniques. When Ricardo is teaching, his classes run the entire gamut; the foxtrot, waltz, cha-cha-cha, tango, salsa, some disco, and the nightclub 2 step, to name a few. The class is open to everyone and students don't have to bring anything You can bring dancing shoes if you have them, but you don't need them to dance. Just a desire to learn and have fun.
4th of July Parade
By: Mike Sylva
The city of Highland and Highland Area Chamber of Commerce filled with streets with civic pride, as well as red with and blue, as they helped the U.S. to celebrate its 236th birthday. Old Glory lined the parade route waving to the nearly 100 parade entries. The streets were also lined with patriots, cheering on the colorful floats, clowns, classic car, police cars, fire engines, horses, and numerous other celebrants as they streamed down the parade route.

The Grand Marshall was our very own Penny Lilburn, who was selected for her work with for the community. The Highland Senior Center was also represented with its own flotilla of kazoo playing band members riding our decorated seniormobile. The group played George M. Cohan favorites “You’re A Grand Old Flag,” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” as well as the revolutionary hit “Yankee Doodle,” down the parade route.

Our float was just one of many groups who showed up not only to promote themselves, but to honor this great nation. We would like to thank everyone who showed up to show their pride America and especially those who either rode and played, or supported our group on the sidelines.