"I get everything out of it. I learn a lot. It's like a void has been filled," stated Mount Saint Agnes student Kyla Sinclair of her visits with Westmeath resident Cleo Davis.

Kyla has been reading to Cleo, who is unable to read fine print, on a weekly basis since September.

She took over from her brother Matthew when Matthew went off to university at the end of the summer.

"Matthew was very fond of Cleo and asked if I would read to her while he was away in the summer. When he went off to school in September, I began reading to her regularly," Kyla explained.

She usually visits on Sunday afternoons and stays for about an hour and a half or so.

"If she can't make a Sunday, Kyla tries to make up the time during the week. I mostly just read to Cleo and tell jokes, but sometimes I serve tea and talk to the other ladies there."

Reading material ranges widely, from some of her brother Matthew's essays to Christmas stories and jokes.

And sometimes they just chat: "We talk about a lot of different topics. I tell her about school and the sports I'm playing."

"We're reading Of Mice and Men now," Kyla elaborated. "I was reading it for school and I was telling Cleo about it.

"She said she'd liked the movie, so I asked if she'd like me to read it to her, and she said it was a good idea."

Kyla admitted that initially she was rather nervous. Cleo seemed so smart, Kyla didn't think she had anything to offer, but the ice was broken by the second visit. "I wasn't scared to say things for fear of what she would think. I knew what I could talk to her about."

Cleo looks forward to Kyla's visits. "They're lovely," she told The Royal Gazette. "It fills my day. I sit here all day long, and if nobody comes to visit, I've had it."

What makes the visiting even more special is that "she came on her own hook. I didn't ask for her to visit". And the giving isn't just one way. "Every time I go, I just feel I learn so much. I learn life skills. She helps me to become confident and offers me encouragement," Kyla said of Cleo.

Whenever Kyla leaves, Cleo thanks her for the visit, but "it's really I who am grateful for the sharing," Kyla stated emphatically.

It was her visits with Cleo and Cleo's tales of the past that made Kyla aware of her gratitude for her own great-grandmothers and the happy memories she shared with them.

This gratitude she expressed in an essay she submitted to the Tom Pettit Thanksgiving Essay Competition.

"I have begun to think more and more about my great-grandmothers lately and how thankful I am they were a part of my life," she wrote.

Kyla's essay was one of eight chosen by judges from the scores of entries as a contender for the first prize.

Teens may think old people are scary, Kyla admitted, "but I don't see them like that. They're very wise. They may seem fragile and delicate, but they're beautiful."

She urged other teens to visit nursing homes to read and talk to the residents. "I'm sure they'll find a lot in common with the elders," she said.

In the concluding paragraph of her essay, Kyla wrote: "I am very thankful that once again I have the privilege to spend time with another senior.

"She is clever and full of humour. Her wisdom is a gift. After our visits I leave feeling happy. …I often think people spend far too much time thinking about the future and it is so easy to forget the past.

"Whether it is a grandmother, an aunt, or a new friend, we all should be thankful for the gift of a senior."