Students and Elders meet up

By TOM FITZPATRICK, Program Director at Hamline Midway Elders

What happens when you have 16 Hamline University freshmen have 1:1 interviews with 16 senior citizens from the Hamline Midway neighborhood? That’s what Monica Gallagher (Service Director) and I wanted to find out when we developed a project at Hamline Midway Elders as part of Hamline University’s “LEAP into St. Paul” project in September. They hoped that the freshmen would learn about the elders’ lives and their feelings about the neighborhood, and we hoped the elders would enjoy sharing their experiences with some new neighbors. The results were even greater than we hoped.

We designed the project to have the 16 freshmen meet the 16 senior citizens in one large room at the Hamline United Methodist Church building just across the street from campus. Students were not matched with elders — they were just asked to sit next to each other at tables. One of the Hamline Midway Elders volunteers (Kathy Lilly) baked muffins and banana bread which we served with coffee and juice to help the folks get comfortable. We supplied a list of questions (thanks to Hamline professor David Davies) to help get things started, and we were pleasantly surprised at how easily conversations flowed.

The conversations were supposed to stop after one hour, but most pairs were reluctant to stop talking to take a group photo. Several students and elders took time to exchange phone numbers, and most pairs had long goodbyes. The senior citizens were thanked for coming and left, but the students were then given the task of writing their thoughts about the experience.

And it was extremely moving to read the students’ comments. One student wrote “This activity was a very fun and interesting way to get to know the seniors in the community. I really enjoyed this experience because it allowed us to connect with the seniors and feel more comfortable with the people in the neighborhood. I really liked talking with Annette since my grandparents passed away before I ever met them, so it was great to connect with someone from her generation because I have never really had the opportunity prior to this experience.”

One elder shared the following advice: “Life is a flower garden, but there are thorns.” The student commented “that is some of the best advice that I’ve ever received. Enjoy the flowers, but be aware of the thorns.” The freshman that I spoke with wrote about “our interesting conversation on the way the generations change and how people’s opinions change on things such as tattoos and piercings and crazy colored hair. While there are stereotypical misconceptions on youth and elders, there tends to be common ground of humanity and tolerance.”

Another student summarized the feelings of many freshmen: “It became evident that older people in our community really are just a bank of wisdom and knowledge. They may seem a bit out of touch to some but their information is priceless.”

We at Hamline Midway Elders were overwhelmed with the writings of the Hamline freshmen along with the verbal comments we’ve received from the senior citizens, and we’re looking forward to repeating this experience at next year’s “LEAP into St. Paul” project.