Ida Shankman gripped the overhead bar on a weight machine as her spotter, Greg Gentry, stood at the ready on a recent morning at Howard High School.
Shankman, 75, worked intently, pulling 60 pounds toward her in an even rhythm. Many of the students in Gentry's class watched with concern and admiration, but all agreed on one thing:
Margie Kline, who's working with Dececco Dockins, 17, is feeling the burn at Howard High School in Ellicott City.
(Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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"She's the strongest one here," said Chris Lucas, 16.
Shankman used to do aerobics but said lifting weights is better for her bones. And Gentry, 18, is there for her every Tuesday and Thursday morning that she can come, acting as her personal trainer through a unique partnership between the Ellicott City school and the county hospital.
The program gives teenagers in the school's advanced weightlifting class the responsibility of spotting elderly adults as they pump iron and of motivating them to stay fit. In return, the seniors take the students under their wings, cooking a feast for them twice a year and sharing the life lessons it took many decades to learn.
Though she immigrated to the United States as a teenager, Shankman, a native of Poland, speaks with a heavy accent. She lived through the Holocaust, spending 2 1/2 years in a concentration camp, and the students say they have never met anyone quite like her.
The approximately two dozen other senior citizens, who show up at Howard High bright and early, dressed in T-shirts and sweat pants, have their own stories -- the elevator inspector, the NASA engineer whom the students have dubbed the Boss, even one of their teacher's fathers.
The students provide an eager audience for their reminiscing as they lift weights together. The class is one of several physical education electives at Howard.
On a recent Tuesday morning, Bernie O'Neill, 71, hopped on a stationary bike and began pedaling. He is a favorite among the students for his loud guffaw and mischievous tales from his youth.
"Did you meet the Elevator Man?" Lucas asked a visitor at the gym on a recent morning. It is one of the nicknames the students have given O'Neill.
