Special Ed students, seniors race for friendship

Grace Point Place resident Jean Heaney shows her support for the Indy 500 on May 25 at a race car celebration with AERO Special Education Cooperative Students.

By Kelly White 

While cars revved their engines at the Indy 500 this past weekend, residents at Grace Point Place in Oak Lawn were able to join in on the excitement.

Grace Point Place, an Anthem Memory Care community located at 5701 W. 101st St., celebrated the Indy 500 on May 25 with a remote-control car race against students from AERO Special Education Cooperative from School District 806.

“Many of our seniors are lifelong fans of racing,” said Shannon Dahlman, Community Relations Director for Grace Point Place. “Our residents will enjoy the camaraderie with the younger generation, and we hope new race fans and friendships will result.”

The 2023 Indianapolis 500 is a 500-mile race in the 2023 IndyCar Series, that took place on Sunday, May 28, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Together, senior citizens and students enjoyed a race-themed day at the starting line nestled inside the comfort of Grace Point Place with checkered race flags, popcorn, trophies and other race decorations.

Grace Point Place is a memory care community for senior citizens living with Alzheimer’s and dementia and prides itself in personalized care. The facility’s core purpose is to protect, engage, and love people living with memory loss and is committed to provide understanding and significance to people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

There are currently more than 30 residents within the facility and they all enjoyed spending time with students from AERO’s Cooperative.​ 

The AERO program provides special education programming and related services to students in 11 Illinois school districts. This marked the first time that this particular group from the AERO Functional and Academic Program, with students ranging in ages 18 to 21, visited Grace Point Place under the guidance of instructional teachers.

“It is exciting for both the residents and students to build on these new friendships,” Dahlman said. “For our residents to be able to share past experiences with the younger generation. It is beneficial to both groups to be able to build confidence in these interactions and to be able to have some fun together.”

This was the first time Grace Point Place held this event, but staff is hoping to keep it a tradition.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer this,” Dahlman said. “We have several residents that have been lifetime racing fans. We wanted to come up with a creative way to kick off the start of the Indy 500 weekend.”

Grace Point Place resident David Kosiek was just one of those lifetime fans that Dahlman mentioned.

“I used to go to the racetrack with my father as a young child,” Kosiek said. “It was nice to share some of those memories with my new friends.”

A total of 15 residents participated in the race day festivities, along with six AERO students.

For those preferring to spectate, popcorn and seats were ready for when the announcer said, “Start your engines.”

From there, students raced against residents with remote control Indy style cars while the crowd cheered. The winner was given a checkered flag and enjoyed a traditional milk toast. ​ 

Grace Point Place residents Sandra McAlpine and James Sullivan had fun on May 25 at the facility in Oak Lawn with a remote-control car race against students from AERO Special Education Cooperative.