What is the Youth + Senior Connections Program?
Well Designed, Community-Based Intergenerational Programming
The Youth + Senior Connections Program is an initiative that connects senior citizens with student volunteers from local school districts. Together they use the Write My LifeBook platform to document the seniors’ life stories. The students serve as technology mentors while the seniors serve as mentors in life. The interaction is meant to build connections between these two groups through a meaningful shared experience.
Having worked as a classroom teacher for 15 years, I created this experience for my own students. The video below shares some of the moments my students shared with our local seniors. I have witnessed first hand how powerfully engaging this interaction is for both my students as well as our senior partners. The original Lifebook Project just celebrated its 10th year and is the inspiration behind the Youth + Senior Connections Program.
Connections Program Inspiration
The Youth + Senior Connections Program Impacts Everyone
Elevates Senior Engagement
Rich Emotional Experience:
By actively listening, students validate seniors’ experiences, achievements, and significant moments, ensuring their stories are heard and valued.
Well-being Through Interactions:
Boost seniors’ well-being by connecting with a younger generation, providing joy and shared experiences.
Preserving Personal Histories:
Capture and preserve personal histories, creating a lasting legacy for future generations.
Community Connection:
Forge links beyond the center, allowing residents to connect with their larger community.
Meaningful Interactions for Families:
Families witness loved ones engaging meaningfully, contributing to the broader community, and connecting beyond the residence center.
Cognitive Engagement:
Elevate cognition through active engagement, fostering mental agility and vitality.
Bridge Generations:
Seniors have the opportunity to learn about and from a younger generation, creating a vibrant exchange of wisdom and perspectives.
Ignites Student Potential
Active Listening for Stronger Connections:
By honing active listening and effective communication skills, students foster cooperation and build relationships that go beyond the classroom.
Real-world Communication Skills for a Lifetime:
Develop critical in-person skills for respectful dialogue and understanding diverse viewpoints.
Empathy in Action:
Identify, acknowledge, and respond with empathy to others’ feelings and opinions.
Future Problem Solvers:
Cultivate innovative thinking with a range of perspectives for tomorrow’s challenges.
Celebrate Diversity:
Intergenerational activities to embrace individual differences, students discover that diversity is not only accepted but celebrated.
Impactful Volunteer Hours:
Meet requirements while making a real difference in the community.
Community Contributors:
Students step outside their classrooms to participate in activities that create a culture of mutual support and growth in the community.
Join us in shaping compassionate, open-minded individuals ready to make positive contributions to both school and community. Together, let’s inspire a future where differences unite!
Find a Community Partner
To find a community partner simply submit a request through our Contact Us form. Please include the name of your organization and indicate if you are an organization that serves seniors or a school district.
Inspiration Lifebooks Project
FAQs
How are community partners matched?
Partnerships start by a request from an organization. Typically the senior-focused organization requests student volunteers to assist seniors. Through the Youth + Senior Connections Program we reach out to local school districts in your area to find a student volunteer partnership. Once a community partner is found, we meet with both organizations to help establish best practices. After the connection is made, the senior organization will work directly with the contact person at the school district to schedule volunteers.
What is the role of the student volunteers?
Although the students’ main role is to serve as a technology mentor using the Write My LifeBook platform, they provide so much more to the seniors. They provide a listening ear as seniors recount their life experiences as well as an opportunity for a genuine social interaction with the younger generation. As students lend their technology know-how, they are mentored through the wisdom that is shared by the seniors as they recount life memories.
Who writes and prints the seniors’ books?
LifeBooks are written and printed directly by Write My LifeBook. Seniors will receive a beautifully written and designed hardbound book. The end product does not depend on whether seniors work with student volunteers on the Write My LifeBook platform or use the platform independently.
“It is for the well-being of my residents that they feel part of the larger community. When our residents get around children it brightens their day. The mixing of generations is great because it keeps our residents current, and lets the younger generation see how the lives of the seniors work.”
Mary Adkins
Senior Living Administrator
What Students, Administrators and Parents are Saying
“In my twelve years of school, there have been countless essays, numerous assignments, tedious worksheets and projects. However, the majority of lessons that have had a significant impact on me were not taught in the classroom. There is one school experience I’ll never forget, The LifeBooks Project. It taught me how much we could learn and understand one another if we only took the time to be intentional in our conversations.”
“The Youth + Senior Connections Program allowed students to create connections with those within the community. For students, it was clear that this experience allowed them to see how what they were learning in the classroom could have a lasting impact in the community.”
“At an age when students are known developmentally to be self-focused, these young people looked beyond themselves, and engaged the older generation. What they found were stories of love, sorrow, wisdom, and experience. My son and his classmates formed friendships with the residents, looking forward to their next time together. The investment of these relationships, kept the students engaged and motivated.”
