A Day at Clemson Downs

Written by CJ Swartzwelter

On Tuesday, February 11, members from Alpha Phi Omega visited the local retirement

home, Clemson Downs, to hang out with residents for the afternoon. One group of students

made Valentine’s Day cards, and another interacted with residents and had lunch with them.

The most rewarding part of this project was getting to hear about the lives of each

resident I spoke with. One of the ladies served as a gynecologist in the military, and hearing her stories about her career, how she travelled all over the world and eventually settled in South Carolina was incredibly heartwarming. I felt honored that she wanted to share that part of her life with me.

Also, the people at Clemson Downs are still incredibly active! APO students joined a resident for a couple rounds of Just Dance—she scored higher than we did! We also had a cookout and ate hamburgers with the residents. One of the ladies Sam Adamson and I spoke with was adamant we eat something, which I thought was sweet.

Overall, it was a rewarding day for me and other APO members. However, we’ll have to

work on our Just Dance moves… maybe one day we’ll host a Just Dance marathon at Clemson Downs!