On Wednesday, May 23, 2018 the LCS cohort stayed on-campus. As a class, we had a quick debrief on our experience at the LGBT Community Center in San Diego. Many of my classmates seemed to have really enjoyed the visit, and wondered why we did not go to the center sooner. According to Professor Bussell, we are not the first LCS cohort that have felt this way. For this reason, Professor Lewis has attempted to negotiate with the LGBT center previous years, in order to schedule more intergenerational activities at the center, similar to the one from last week. Unfortunately, it has been a major challenge to actually make this happen, because the center already has many scheduled events and does not have room for more. A potential solution to this problem can be to just have the LCS cohort attend the LGBT center’s scheduled events for a second or third time. In the end, this will allow students and elders to have the flexibility to see each other again and speak about whichever topic comes to mind during the next visit. Overall, I think the student and the elder will both appreciate this alternative solution very much. The reason I say this is because I felt really rushed when speaking to Richard. So when it was time to put away the tables, I used that extra time to talk to Richard. I felt guilty for not helping with clean up, but I knew Richard still wanted to get my feedback on the first few pages of his book and I too, was heavily invested in learning more about his thoughts on the book.
The reason I went to great detail about my overall solution to the problem discussed this week in class is because I’m about to approach the end of the Life Course Scholars (LCS) Program and feel the 2018-2019 LCS cohort will greatly benefit from these changes. Although students can take the Hillcrest Medical Center Shuttle at any point in time, and eventually find their way back to the LGBT Community Center, I still think the purpose of having more than one visit to the LGBT center as a cohort is to establish stronger bonds, before students take the initiative to go again on their own. Currently, the LCS program has formed strong bonds at Casa de Manana, Gary & Mary West Senior Dental Center, and Bayside Community Center, now it just needs to form stronger bonds at the LGBT Community Center in San Diego.
The reason I went to great detail about my overall solution to the problem discussed this week in class is because I’m about to approach the end of the Life Course Scholars (LCS) Program and feel the 2018-2019 LCS cohort will greatly benefit from these changes. Although students can take the Hillcrest Medical Center Shuttle at any point in time, and eventually find their way back to the LGBT Community Center, I still think the purpose of having more than one visit to the LGBT center as a cohort is to establish stronger bonds, before students take the initiative to go again on their own. Currently, the LCS program has formed strong bonds at Casa de Manana, Gary & Mary West Senior Dental Center, and Bayside Community Center, now it just needs to form stronger bonds at the LGBT Community Center in San Diego.