Seniors fill a niche

"Checkmate."

The word comes from the small voice of a second-grader sitting across a chessboard from one of his classmates. His legs dangle off the chair and he can barely reach to move the pieces, but the seemingly adult board game has become a favorite recess activity for more than 150 Alta View Elementary students, thanks to a retired volunteer.

Fritz Lenhardt is a former Jordan District teacher who recognized the effect that learning such a complex game could have on young minds and started teaching students how to play and improve their game during their lunch recess twice a week. Often he brings his retired friend and neighbor Russell Zimmerman, and together they teach children game etiquette, strategy and problem-solving skills.

The project started after Lenhardt approached the Sandy school's principal, Catherine Stoneman, about teaching students the skill and art of chess. She readily accepted, and now after a year Lenhardt has 25 chessboards and pieces, tables, chairs, demonstration boards and more than 150 students.

The game helps students to process and develop structured sequences in their minds and learn how to think and strategize problem-solving, said Lenhardt.

"He is just one of those people in the world that you can't believe is for real because he is so genuine, and so anxious to make the world a better place," said Stoneman. "He says 'Well, I am just having fun,' but it is so much more than that — he's a gem."

Though the chess lessons are unusual, Lenhardt and Zimmerman aren't alone in volunteering in schools during their retirement years.

Lane Compton, a retired Brigham Young University professor, has volunteered for nearly eight years and currently donates around 20 hours a week to two elementary schools in Davis District. Among other honors, he is a former Science Educator of the Year and former chairman of the Rocky Mountain Science Council, but to everyone in Stewart Elementary — from teachers to secretaries to students — Compton is known simply as "Grandpa."

He has become an integral part of first-grade teacher Janet Hatch's curriculum. Compton doesn't take the term grandpa lightly — he jokes and laughs with students but expects a lot from them.

Compton said the first grade is a critical time because it's where most children learn to read. He takes students in very small groups or one-on-one to review the day's lesson or just have them read to him. He has two objectives: to help them enjoy it and make them feel they are making progress as bright students.