This week we reconvened in the classroom. We did check ins with everyone regarding our current stress levels in the quarter. It felt nice to be able to share these thoughts with our classmates in this safe space. We also did a follow up regarding our last two site visits. Then, we met with our HAP groups. We’ve finalized a date for our HAP and we were fortunate enough to link up with an existing walking group to make our walkathon of all ages much more feasible. We’ve decided how we want to spend our budget on the event as well. We are planning on ordering Gatorade mix from Amazon, buying bananas, granola bars, and water bottles from Costco, buying Target gift cards to raffle off at the event, getting balloons from the Dollar Tree to decorate the event and signal the beginning and end of the route, and ordering event t-shirts to hand out to attendees. We estimate that this will amount to about $775. Professor Lewis and Professor Bussell told us that they will place the orders for us and go with some us to pick up the food items from Costco. I believe that we have settled on a t-shirt design for the event, and we have finalized a flyer as well! We are planning a group site visit soon to try to designate a route for the day of the event. Now our main focus is getting word out and trying to get as many attendees to come to this event as possible.
We had our second learning exchange meeting (LEG), and this time it was at Casa de Mañana! This was our third visit to this site, and we even saw some familiar faces. There were fewer people in attendance at this LEG than there were at Bayside, so our class divided into much larger groups, and the focus was placed more on the Casa residents to speak than on us. I was in a group with a couple that had been pilots together before they had retired. They told us they had flown several very important people in their days, and they had even brought a picture that they had taken with President Reagan! They told us that back in the day, it was legal to own bobcats as pets, which came as a surprise to all of us! They brought pictures they had of their pet bobcat that they had rescued from the wild, and it had co-existed with their other cats! They said she was a very tame animal, and she was incredibly loving and would cuddle with them every night. This LEG seemed like a much different experience than the Bayside one, because at Bayside, we had all collectively spoken of our lives at 20; whereas at Casa, it was only the residents that got the chance to speak of their experiences. I think I personally preferred the Bayside experience because when we also got to share our stories, I felt that we connected with the participants on a deeper level. Next week, we’ll be back in the classroom and we will be getting even closer to the dates of our healthy aging projects!
We had a learning exchange meeting (LEG) at Bayside titled “My Life at Twenty”. We were originally supposed to partake in another Zumba lesson; however, the location had changed and the room could not fit our class in addition to those already in attendance. After they wrapped up their Zumba session, we walked in and gathered in groups to share our stories of our lives at twenty with the individuals in attendance. A few of them had recognized us from the last Zumba session! The individual my group spoke with has lived in America for 60 years now and had originally immigrated from the Philippines. He said he had immigrated here because he was enlisted in the United States army. He had immigrated along with his wife, who was also in attendance at Zumba! He told us stories of how a hamburger from McDonald’s used to cost 10 cents, and how a gallon of gas used to cost 25 cents. His children are now about the ages of myself and of my classmates and he told us that he would love nothing more than for them to do and to study what they are passionate about it. He said his parents had made him go to school for engineering and he hated it and resented his parents greatly for it. He spread this message along to myself and my peers and told us that money does not matter if we aren’t doing what we love. I loved this experience of hearing his life stories, and I’m sure it lit up his day to be able to share these stories with us and reminisce on his days.
This was our first week back after spring break! We’ve already started planning our Healthy Aging Project for the quarter and my group submitted a proposal for an intergenerational walk called “Walks of Life”. We took into consideration that it might be difficult for some seniors to take part in walk that spans several miles, so we are planning on making it span no longer than 1-2 miles or about 3 kilometers. To make it intergenerational, we are planning on reaching out to UCSD students and even local high school and elementary school students to attend the event. We are currently trying to finalize the venue, but due to the lengthy time it takes to secure permits for outdoor venues in conjunction with our restricted timeline to make this event happen, we are struggling a little bit. However, if we cannot secure a venue that requires permits, we have a few venues in mind that are public places that will not require such permits. This healthy aging project aims to establish a sustainable event that fosters intergenerational interaction, connections among community members, and increase awareness of healthy and accessible physical activities such as walking. Studies have proven that seniors that partake in regular physical activity, such as walking, have a reduced likelihood for chronic conditions and have improved heart health. We hope to inspire the seniors that partake in this event to become more physically active. We have a budget of $800 and we are going to start seeking sponsors to cover certain costs for the event such as snacks, water, t-shirts, and flyers. It’s going to take quite a bit of effort to make this event happen under a restricted budget and timeline, but I have full confidence in my group and in myself to accomplish this!
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Tanveer MoundiWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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