This past week has been filled with exciting memories, fun adventures, experiences, and learning and growing more as a Life Course Scholar. Our Love/Care/Connect Event at the West Center was amazing. I had so much fun helping our seniors pot plants and watching them participate in the other activities my classmates set up. We managed to give every pot away with a plant and gave many Valentine’s Day stickers out as well. Some of my favorite moments to watch included our seniors at the photo booth. It brought a smile on my face watching the seniors dress up in crowns and boas while posing for a picture. Another exciting moment was the raffle. A couple of my classmates and I were helping seniors look at their raffle tickets to see if they won. A special moment was when a senior we were helping won the raffle, then he gave us each a teabag. I don’t plan on drinking it anytime soon because it has now become a special memorabilia for me. I had a great time on our class outing via the trolley to Barrio Logan for our age-friendliness assessment. It was my first time on the Blue Line, so it was very exciting to experience it with my peers. It was really nice to continue getting to know my fellow life course scholars and get to experience these moments with them. During my group’s walk around Barrio Logan, we noticed just how age-friendly Barrio Logan really was. We noticed that there was not enough sidewalk space, not enough time to walk the crosswalks, and a lack of available health and dental care. We did notice that art was a very essential part of the culture surrounding Barrio Logan and that the community’s activism really shines through Chicano Park. As always I am excited to continue learning and growing, and I look forward to the next couple of weeks left.
I can’t believe week 5 has ended and we’re well on our way into week 6 of the life course scholars program. Last week was our first outing as well as our first time meeting in person. Shoutout to Jasmine for the car ride there and back! It was really nice getting to know and see everyone outside of the Zoom realm. I really enjoyed our trip to the West Senior Wellness Center, it’s an amazing facility and it was interesting to learn about the many ways in which they help seniors in poverty and those who experience homelessness, live healthy and fulfilling lives. My favorite section of the facility was where they held their fitness classes, it brought me a sense of joy walking through the class as the seniors were working out. My favorite conversation had to be with one of the seniors in the dining hall, they told my classmates and I stories about New York, knocking on wood, and how they prefer a cane to a walker. Fun fact: the tables at the facility are not real wood, one of the seniors at the facility can testify. The conversation was full of laughs and I'm glad I had my fellow life course scholars with me to break the ice as we went around talking to the seniors. During this experience, it was unfortunate to see the impact covid has had on the facility. Everyone at the facility joked that there were more students than seniors. I hope that this facility can continue to thrive and help our seniors despite the circumstances. It was amazing to see how passionate the workers of the facility were and it inspired me to think about the ways in which I hope to get involved in helping our seniors. I’m very grateful to be a part of this program and it has been such a positive part of my winter quarter experience already, it has been deeply enriching so far, and I’m excited for the next couple of weeks to come.
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Adriana De La TorreAdriana De La Torre has a double major in Dance and Human Development with a specialization in Archives
March 2022
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