Valleywide : Millikan Students on ‘Goodwill Tour’

Through song, dance, a skit and a few drill team routines, about 110 Millikan Middle School students learned the value of volunteerism Wednesday--embarking on a three-stop “goodwill tour” of the San Fernando Valley.

Organized by drill team sponsor Sue Reynolds, the tour included visits to the Diane S. Leichman School and the Jewish Home for the Aging, both in Reseda, and to a school for the retarded in Burbank’s Bethany Presbyterian Church.

The purpose, Reynolds explained, was to get students at Sherman Oaks-based Millikan “to interact with people outside their own environment.”

Which is exactly what the youngsters did at the Leichman school, a special education facility for 232 students 13 to 22 years old.

The Millikan and Leichman students sang and cheered together before the Millikan performing arts magnet students and drill team members put on a variety show.

As the drill team members shook their pompoms during routines, the Leichman students clapped and swayed in time with the hip-hop music in the background. Millikan drill team captain Tiffany Franklin, 14, was moved by the experience. “We’re here to let them know that they aren’t any different from us,” she said. “They’re human and we love them no matter what. We just want to make them happy.”

Judging by the Leichman reaction, administrative assistant Addie Stokes said her students were happy indeed.

“They enjoyed the performance very much,” Stokes said. “Our students are mentally retarded, but they can appreciate music--the international language.”