Deirdre Newman It was an unusual sight...

Deirdre Newman

It was an unusual sight Thursday at the Avalon at Newport West, an

assisted-living facility in Newport Beach.

Some of the seniors were sporting green lips and fingers.

The culprit?

Frosting from a collaborative cookie-decorating event with special

education students from Estancia High School. Some of the seniors

just couldn’t resist licking the delicious frosting off their

fingers.

In addition to tasting good, the frosting provided a bond between

the students and the seniors, said Windy Scofield, one of the special

education teachers.

“It’s good for [the students] to interact with people in the

community and for them to help others who are just in need as they

are,” Scofield said.

This is the second month the Estancia students have visited Avalon

for what school officials hope will become a monthly tradition.

On Thursday, 10 students and their teachers stopped by Avalon and

were paired up with the seniors based on ability.

“We tried to match our kids who can’t do things with seniors who

can,” Scofield said.

Although the students and seniors were paired up, most of them

ended up working independently, thereby increasing the amount of

frosted stars, trees and snowmen to enjoy.

The students and the seniors said they appreciated the chance to

hang out together and have fun.

“I like putting frosting on the cookies,” Adolfo Gomez, 16, said.

“My favorite thing to make is a snowman.”

“I think this is wonderful,” Elsie Cook, 96, said. “I think it’s

great that we have a facility that can bring [the students] here.”

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Deirdre Newman visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about her experience.