In my last blog post of this quarter I’m going to expand on my takeaways from the quarter. I can’t believe we’re already halfway through our journey in the life course scholars program. We still have an entire quarter to go but I know that will pass just as quickly. Its bittersweet to think about next quarter. I can’t wait to hit the ground running and get to work on my groups’ Healthy Aging Project. We are doing a speed dating event for older adults that I’ll expand on in the future. It’s super exciting and our professors have said it has never been done before so I’m glad to be a part of this. But on the other hand I don’t want this class to end. I think this class is so uniquely structured (online or not) and different from many of my classes. It’s much smaller, discussion focused, and group project focused. I think more classes should be designed like this one and be project focused and learning through real world engagement. I definitely understand that these things are hard on a logistic level especially the more students one has to accommodate. Still, I will remember the Life Course Scholars program and recommend all those who are interested to take it.
My 1st big takeaway from this quarter was how alarming it was to learn about all the ways ageism exists and how deeply ingrained it is in our society. I came in with a pre-existing understanding of this but still learned a lot of new things especially about perception. Ageism affects how one perceives others and how you eventually perceive yourself. An ageist society places little value on the lives of older adults and this is extremely harmful, not only to how people make assumptions on older generations, but on how we all will perceive and value ourselves as we inevitably age. Combating ageism benefits everyone!
My 2nd takeaway was how much impact can still be had even in pandemic times. We have been living and studying remotely for an entire year now. As sad as that is, it’s amazing to “see” how we’ve still made such an impact through our valentine’s goodies and our correspondences with seniors. We received multiple ‘thank yous’ and have been messaging back and forth as a class with older adults that recieved our gifts. It’s been wonderful reading and responding over the last few weeks. It shows how we’ve been able to adapt this class and still have a meaningful impact even if it wasn’t in the way we pictured it a year ago.
Lastly, I loved hearing about the diversity in experiences that all of our extraordinary people experienced in their lives. They all had their own unique wisdom to offer us and were impacted in different ways. I just liked how personal the project was for each of us and getting the chance to share a piece of my grandma with everyone.
Til next quarter
My 1st big takeaway from this quarter was how alarming it was to learn about all the ways ageism exists and how deeply ingrained it is in our society. I came in with a pre-existing understanding of this but still learned a lot of new things especially about perception. Ageism affects how one perceives others and how you eventually perceive yourself. An ageist society places little value on the lives of older adults and this is extremely harmful, not only to how people make assumptions on older generations, but on how we all will perceive and value ourselves as we inevitably age. Combating ageism benefits everyone!
My 2nd takeaway was how much impact can still be had even in pandemic times. We have been living and studying remotely for an entire year now. As sad as that is, it’s amazing to “see” how we’ve still made such an impact through our valentine’s goodies and our correspondences with seniors. We received multiple ‘thank yous’ and have been messaging back and forth as a class with older adults that recieved our gifts. It’s been wonderful reading and responding over the last few weeks. It shows how we’ve been able to adapt this class and still have a meaningful impact even if it wasn’t in the way we pictured it a year ago.
Lastly, I loved hearing about the diversity in experiences that all of our extraordinary people experienced in their lives. They all had their own unique wisdom to offer us and were impacted in different ways. I just liked how personal the project was for each of us and getting the chance to share a piece of my grandma with everyone.
Til next quarter