“Isn’t this nice?” Carl Speaks said as he listened to the Rock Hill Middle School Band play “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.”

Speaks, a Jo-Lin Health Center resident, propped his chin in his hand and smiled. “They’re good, very good — and they’re not even in high school. That director, he’s good, ain’t he?”

Speaks and other residents gathered in the activities room at the nursing home Wednesday to hear the band and visit with them and with middle school honor society students, all of whom came with smiles and a big dose of Christmas cheer, right before the holidays.

In so doing, the students may have made new friends and certainly gained some new admirers.

“This is wonderful,” Jo-Lin resident Garnet Fields said. She added, “You know, my granddaughter (Debbie Fields) is a teacher at Rock Hill.”

In between musical numbers, Kandi Taylor and Kathy Soderburg read Christmas stories while Cody Cox and others passed out Christmas cards. For those residents who just couldn’t make it to the concert down the hall, they got personalized visits in their rooms.

Christie Ray, advisor for the honor society, said the idea was for students to reach out to the community and show concern for others.

“We want them to know we care about them and want to spread joy to them as well,” she said.