Seniors to Seniors returned to the Wakefield Senior Center on November 16th

On November 16th the Wakefield Senior Center was brimming with enthusiasm and conversation between two generations that don't always have an opportunity to connect and get to know each other in impactful ways. After several years on hiatus, Seniors to Seniors had made a welcome comeback!

“Seniors to Seniors” is a cross-generational event that brings high school seniors and older adults in our community together to get to know each other.  The twenty adults and students who participated in the event had an opportunity to get to know each other over lunch. Each adult got to share some of their lifetime's supply of stories during an interview with the Wakefield High School student senior they were paired up with.  

The event was so well received by both the adults and the students involved. Aside from the need to spread tables further apart in the future to make it easier to hear, the feedback was nothing but positivity. Adult participants really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know people from the younger generation and felt optimistic about the future in the hands of such competent, intelligent and thoughtful young people. Participants also appreciated the opportunity to have an engaged listener, each of whom were genuinely interested in what was being shared.

With the interviews now complete, the students will be working on writing articles based on each conversation and submitting them to the Wakefield Daily Item along with a photo of the student and adult partners.  It was a great opportunity to pass stories on to a new generation and to offer the students something meaningful to write about.

Special thanks to Wakefield High School Journalism teacher Kacper Kruszewski for organizing this field trip for 20 of his students in very little time and working with the students to draft and polish the articles based on the interviews. Additionally, thanks to The Savings Bank for providing transportation from the high school for the students as well as lunch for all participants. Wakefield Senior Center provided the dining space, set up, clean up, and handled registration, while Ann Hadley of JC Marketing captured the photos of each pair participating, and The Room to Write assisted with coordination and outreach to gather participants from the community. Thanks also goes to Wakefield Daily Item for helping to solicit participants and for agreeing to print the final articles in the paper. 

What a wonderful community collaboration and a fun way to pass along some really special stories and wisdom from one generation to another!