Today's class was the final class of the quarter. We had a potluck, and everyone brought delicious food. There was pasta, pastries, bagels, berry crumble, gnocchi, cream puffs, fruit, cookies, chips, and drinks. We debriefed on what was the most impactful part of class in the quarter and also debriefed about the Gary and Mary West senior prom event. For me, the most impactful part of the class so far was the housing project tour and the Oral History projects on our Extraordinary Persons. I have walked by Casa De Manana in the past, but never really thought too much of it. I never realized it was a senior living community until our class actually went and received a tour of the place. I'm pretty sure I've also walked by the Gary and Mary West Center before but just never noticed what the space actually was. I also really liked the Oral History projects because of the opportunity to learn about everyone's families and stories. The experience is invaluable because I don't think I could have ever learned to this extent in a class where I would have to sit in lecture and look at slides. I also learned a lot more about my mom that I didn't know before I did the project. After debriefing about the quarter, we then branched off into our individual project groups. I decided to join the group that will be hosting a Walk-a-Thon for seniors hopefully downtown or somewhere accessible. We are hoping to have it sometime in May or June.
Today was the day of the senior prom at the Gary and Mary West Center. The event was from 1:15pm to 3:15pm. The theme was a carnival, and we had pizza, churros and apple juice from Costco. I helped set up the event by cutting churros, cutting up many bananas for the fondue machine, and putting pizza onto plates. I thought the event went very well. It was pretty rewarding for me to serve seniors pizza and churros and I enjoyed contributing to the event this way. Everyone really enjoyed the pizza, churros and apple juice that was served. We also had a raffle and gave away prizes like hand cream, soap, blankets, mugs, and plants. The seniors were so excited to win prizes and really seemed to enjoy the blankets because they were so soft. The photo booth was also a success, and I saw people leaving with polaroids. I remember seeing people leave wearing the boas and sunglasses. They told us on the way out that they really enjoyed the event, which I was happy to hear. On the way out, we gave goodie bags to people, and they appreciated the goodie bags a lot. Afterwards we helped clean up by clearing the tablecloths, tearing down the decorations and sweeping the floors. I liked that this was our concluding event for the quarter, because it was very rewarding. I had a lot of fun, and I really look forward to the events next quarter and learning even more about healthy aging.
In today's class, everyone presented their NAP projects. We listened to presentations about the neighborhoods of Hillcrest, Sabre Springs, Encinitas, and Barrio Logan. Listening to everyone's presentations made me learn about environments I hadn't even heard of before. My group presented about the neighborhood of Little Italy. It was really interesting learning about the different neighborhoods- from the environment to the culture and age-friendly the neighborhood was. For me, although I've been to Little Italy multiple times, there are aspects of the neighborhood that I never noticed before doing this project. For example, there are no grocery stores in Little Italy. Residents have to count on the weekly Farmer's market to obtain fresh produce and other goods, or own a vehicle to drive to the closest grocery stores. I was also surprised by the lack of green spaces. During our expedition, my group only found one park, and it wasn't even a park for humans, it was for dogs. The neighborhood's motto is "hip and historic neighborhood" and this is clear due to how inaccessible it is for older people. There are many entrances that have stairs, and also no buses to travel within Little Italy. There are also no health centers and senior living communities. This project really opened my eyes to how architecture and environment are intentional. Little Italy definitely caters to a demographic, but it is not for the aging demographic. Little Italy does have events like the weekly Farmer's market that draws in people from all age groups, which is a plus.
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SALLIE LUWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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