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Authors

Debbie Davis

Keywords

service learning, assisted living home, intergenerational relationships, writing projects

Submission Type

Research

Preview

Maddy, 10th grade, took notes as 89-year-old Cordelia, comfortably settled in her wheelchair, recalled life as a teenager during the Great Depression. Periodically the two paused, reflecting on the story just told. Then Maddy leaned forward with another question, and Cordelia’s animated storytelling would resume. Zack, 9th grade, wrote furiously as Louis, 87, with hands punctuating the air, talked of World War II. Louis served in the Army unit responsible for the invasion of Japan, a mission in which unit casualties were projected at 80 – 90 %. The invasion was called off when Japan surrendered. These stories were among those shared when volunteer high school students in Riverdale, Utah, visited assisted living residents for the purpose of writing the residents’ life stories.

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