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Relationship between seniors and students blossoms with joy.
There’s nothing like having visitors, especially when they come bearing gifts of laughter and joy. For the last decade, Deephaven’s St. Therese Catholic School preschoolers have walked across campus to visit residents at Deephaven Woods Senior Living.
“We meet on Thursdays and start with a challenge game like picture bingo,” says Katy Swanson, Deephaven Woods’ life enrichment director. “We round it out with a poem or story. Along the way, we laugh, and who doesn’t need a good laugh?”
The partnership is truly a win-win. “It boosts everyone’s social skills,” says Emily Rohla, co-director at St. Therese Early Learning Center. And with young children in the mix, there is bound to be a bit of curiosity. “We hear all kinds of questions,” Swanson says. “’Why are you in a wheelchair? What happened to your arm? Why do you need that Band-Aid?’ The elders feel comfortable answering these questions. I’m not so sure they’d feel the same way if their peers had asked.”
The freedom to ask questions and receive honest answers has had an effect on the younger set. “These relationships have changed how our kids look at older people,” Rohla says. “They’re not afraid.” Additionally, there are instances where some of the younger students don’t have grandparents living nearby, and some of the residents don’t have grandchildren living close, so the dynamic of the weekly visits can go a long way in filling a generational relationship void.
Reconnecting seniors with other parts of their lives is also a benefit of this type of intergenerational programming. For example, Deephaven Woods is home to a number of former teachers. “They have fun seeing their grandfriends,” Swanson says. “They love seeing the fresh faces, the cute little pigtails and galoshes. It fires a lot of memories.”
While the preschoolers make their weekly school year treks to Deephaven Woods, older students spend time there, too, performing band and choir concerts for its residents. In addition, for Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day, the students parade through Deephaven Woods. “During [COVID-19], we held the parade outside and walked around the building,” Rohla says. “I remember looking up and seeing all the elders at the windows.”
Regardless of how or when the seniors and students come together for visits, the importance of those interactions can go beyond sharpening social skills or satisfying curiosity—it builds lasting friendships and memories.
St. Therese Catholic School
18325 Minnetonka Blvd., Deephaven; 952.473.4355
Facebook: St. Therese Catholic School of Deephaven Minnesota
Instagram: @st.thereseschool_deephaven
