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Published Thursday, |
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`Seniors have a lot of experience. We should listen to them and not take them for granted.' DELITZA RAMIREZ, Beach High sophomore C.W. GRIFFIN / Herald Staff FROM 16 TO 64: Alexandra Chitty, 16, dances to When I'm 64, played by Nicole Chirino on guitar at the Opa-locka Neighborhood Center. Both are from the New World School of the Arts. Students, seniors get into the swingBy MARIKA LYNCHHerald Staff Writer A knee operation left Elaine Howell unable to walk unaided. But that changed -- at least temporarily -- when the Nautilus Middle Jazz Band came to the Opa-locka Neighborhood Center. Big band tunes and a walker helped Howell from her seat. By the end of the song, she was dancing solo. ``I have the rhythm,'' said Howell, 85. ``But until now I didn't have the legs.'' The songs were old but it was a youthful spirit that filled the Opa-locka Center on Monday. Students from four Dade schools celebrated Intergenerational Awareness Month and the culmination of a year's worth of sharing and learning from seniors. One Miami Beach High English class wrote biographies of the seniors. Sophomore Delitza Ramirez learned about Jamaica and its Dunn River Falls, but there is one lesson she said she'll take with her: ``Seniors have a lot of experience,'' she said. ``We should listen to them and not take them for granted.'' Allie McMillan stood among African queens and kings -- in a portrait painted by Jackson High students. McMillan, recovering from a stroke, struggled to express her thanks. ``It's beautiful,'' McMillan, 73, said. Scenes performed by New World School of the Arts students had Mable Fulton, 86, howling. Fulton found herself to be a lot like fictional character Lucinda Matlock played by Alexandra Chitty, 16. Both married young, both had more than 10 children, and both loved life. ``I'm old but I enjoyed it,'' Fulton, said. |
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