TEMECULA: Program brings seniors, students together on campus

Platinum Pumas welcomes residents living next to Chaparral

By RANI GUPTA - Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:20 PM PST ∞

TEMECULA ---- In many ways, Cesar Ferriols is like any other Chaparral High School football fan.

During Friday's home football game, Ferriols ---- showing his Puma pride with a freshly painted paw print on his cheek ---- sat in the stands and cheered for Chaparral during its 53-0 win over Temecula Valley High School.

But Ferriols is no student at the Temecula school. The 80-year-old lives at the neighboring FountainGlen senior community and takes part in a new program in which high school students accompany senior citizens to the school's games.

Ferriols said he and his wife, Socorro, 81, have been enjoying the experience.

"It's fun and relaxing," he said.

As part of the program, known as Platinum Pumas, students from Chaparral's California Scholarship Federation club meet the senior citizens at FountainGlen before every home game. They walk the seniors to the football stadium, where they sit together in the stands.

During kickoff, the senior citizens raise their hands in the air and curl their middle two fingers around to meet their thumbs and form a Puma head ---- just like their decades-younger counterparts surrounding them in the stands. At half-time, students fetch hot dogs for the FountainGlen residents, some of whom tote along padded seats to make the bleachers more comfortable.

"They treat you real good," Socorro Ferriols said of the students.

The idea for the program came from the school's Parent Teacher Student Association, who had heard about a similar effort at Vista Murrieta High School.

Former Principal Dan Kenley said last month that the program was a good way to reach out to the school's neighbors.

As principal, Kenley said, he would occasionally get complaints from FountainGlen residents about noise during band camps or students smoking in the complex's parking lot. Residents were cool to a proposal to change the name of the street leading into both the school and the complex to Puma Way, Kenley said.

Sophomore Krista Boyles, 15, said residents may have wondered "what all the ruckus is on Friday nights." Now that they see first-hand that the games are organized fun, Boyles said she hopes they feel like part of the school.

She noted that the older residents usually sit smack-dab in the middle of screaming teenage fans and seem to like it.

"They get into it and they do hand signals and cheer," Boyles said.

Bill Hamilton, 81, has been a regular since the program started earlier this fall for two simple reasons: "I love football and I love kids," he said.

Hamilton said he enjoys joking around with the students.

"They love that," he said. "They don't want some dour person saying, 'Down in front!'"

Students say they like introducing the older residents to the school. They said they also get a chance to hear about experiences very different from theirs, such as being married for six decades.

Sophomore Nick Brookhouser, 16, said the students have developed a genuine rapport with the residents.

"They see us as friends to them, they don't see us as younger students," he said.

Chaparral counselor Liz Cooke, sponsor of the California Scholarship Federation club, said the program may continue during basketball season. She notes that some groups have already made efforts to reach out to the senior citizens by, for instance, inviting them as chaperones to a field trip to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Cooke said she would like to see residents brought on campus for even more events, such as drama productions and concerts.

"We're just hoping it grows out of this," she said.

Contact staff writer Rani Gupta at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or rgupta@californian.com.