Maine West math students close generation gap with letters, artwork

On most school days, Amy Claus is big on numbers.

She is a math teacher at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, and her classload includes geometry and advanced placement statistics.

Claus is doing the best she can during remote learning, but last week, she gave her students a break from the number crunching, and became more concerned about words.

"I told our students that at a time like this, there are bigger things for us to be thinking about than what is the secant of a circle (the line that intersects a circle at two points)," Claus said. "I really wanted us to do something that would make an impact."

Claus gave her students an extra credit assignment to write personal letters to residents at the Moorings of Arlington Heights, a senior living community. With personal visits at many senior facilities severely limited or in some cases eliminated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Claus figured a message from a full-of-life teenager might provide some joy and happiness.

"I got this idea because my own parents are a little older, in their 60s and 70s, and I'm just so happy that I can still see them and speak to them," she said. "We do it by me standing at the end of their driveway while they're standing in their garage, but at least we still see each other.

"That got me to thinking that the people in these senior facilities aren't getting that experience right now. They don't have family visiting right now," she added. "At first, we were going to make cards for the residents, but I've heard that at some places, they are starting to quarantine the mail now. So we decided to write emails."

Claus teaches about 60 students a day and each one wrote an email. Some wrote about themselves and the subjects they like, and their activities outside of school. Some drew pictures and attached those to their emails. Some attached pictures of pretty flowers or funny pictures of their dogs.

Some of the letters were long and detailed.

"I like that we got to branch out into other parts of the community to let people know that they are not alone, and that feels good," said 16-year-old Joshua Elavumkal, who wrote a letter explaining how students were thinking about the Moorings residents during these tough times. "Our teacher started by saying this was optional, but everyone started doing it because it was just a good thing to do.

"My sister works at (a retirement community) and she tell us how hard it is for the people there not getting to see their families right now," Elavumkal said. "I just want to put a smile on their faces."

Mission accomplished.

Kara Atwood, a 2013 Maine West graduate who was a swimmer for Claus' husband Ryan when she was a student there, is now a social worker at the Moorings, where nonessential visits have been eliminated for the last three weeks. She has worked tirelessly to collect about 75 student emails and turn them into colorful cards for every resident.

"The residents absolutely loved the emails," Atwood said. "Some were asking to go right to their rooms so they could hang up their cards. One was reading it over the phone to her family. There were tears and smiles and they were all talking to each other about their letters, and 'their students.'

Atwood noted the generation gap and how much it meant to the residents that the high school kids took the time to write to them and the staff.

"It was just really beautiful to see. It made our entire day."