Heritage Elementary students are learning about the past from older generations as part of an innovative project this spring.
Grade 5 and 6 students are interviewing senior members of the community with the objective of writing an article on aspects of their lives.
On March 17, the students interviewed community members in groups of three and four. Volunteers included two former teachers, a firefighter, a dance instructor, the founder of a community organization, and a world traveller.
The project is called Generations Connect: Voices of our Community. It is part of a partnership between the Montérégie West Community Network (MWCN), The Gleaner, and the New Frontiers School Board (NFSB).
“The intergenerational activity at Heritage, which is part of our Bridging Generations project, is going really well,” said Nadya Kovacs, an outreach and program coordinator at the MWCN’s Huntingdon office. “We had a great mix of community members, and the kids were really engaged the whole time. It was wonderful to see everyone connecting so naturally,” she commented.
Yvette Harper of Huntingdon is one of the volunteers. She has enjoyed working with young people all her life, listening to their hopes, their fears, and their dreams, and she has been lifted by their enthusiasm.
“When this opportunity arose, I jumped at it,” she said. “It was sheer joy to hear the level of curiosity in the students’ voices escalate as their confidence increased and as they realized their questions had value,” Harper concluded.
“I grew up with an appreciation for the different perspectives and lived experiences that different generations can bring when they collaborate,” said teacher David Rosenbaum. “My hope is that the students participating in this project can look at seniors in their community, and the community itself, with new appreciation and understanding,” he added.
For the students, the opportunity to work with community members was invaluable.
“It is fun to interview people. I have never done this before,” said one Grade 6 student participating in the project. “It is also fun to meet new people and to get to know them, especially when they have a bunch of stories to tell,” he explained.
“It’s important, so we can learn more about them and what they did,” said another student. “We get to learn about their lives and how different it was for them,” she added.
Look out for the articles coming out in future additions of The Gleaner.
*This article was written by grade six students at Heritage Elementary school as part of a partnership between the New Frontiers School Board and the Gleaner, with support from the federal government.