Building an Intergenerational Community Through Art

Duncan McDonell, right, with seniors from Institute on Aging

EDITOR’S NOTE: This guest post and photos appear courtesy of Duncan McDonell, a sophomore at Stuart Hall High School in San Francisco. His school of one of 22 that belong to the Sacred Heart Network of schools in the United States. 

In my first blog post here, “Art as a Tool for Intergenerational Connection,” I talked about my work with older adults at the Institute on Aging (IOA), thanks to the Youth Jumpstart Grant from Generations United and Mentor Up.

That’s how I met Jessica McCracken, my mentor and program manager of IOA’s intergenerational arts program, Center for Elders and Youth in the Arts (CEYA). At IOA, Jessica and I teach art in the day centers.

Part of my goal for the Youth Jumpstart Grant was to expand IOA’s intergenerational arts programs with help from my high school’s Students in Action (SIA) team, of which I’m a member.

This program is part of our Service Learning Program directed by Raymond O’Connor, who is a great man and has helped me with my project tremendously.

SIA youth with elder partner

In SIA, we organize community service activities, present monthly service awards to members of our community, fundraise, and promote service learning throughout our school. The whole SIA program is amazing. I’m honored to be a part of it.  

This year, the SIA team headed our school service day, the day our entire school (and affiliated junior high school) break into groups and travel around the Bay Area to provide community service.

While brainstorming where to host some of our service sites, I suggested Institute on Aging, an idea the SIA group strongly supported. They chose me to lead our project.

Before our March 14, 2014 school-wide Service Day, Jessica and I felt the need to provide sensitivity training to my peers at Stuart Hall High School before they came to teach.

We met with seven students for an hour at school and, using a presentation Jessie and I made, we discussed various strategies for how to make the seniors’ and the students’ experiences as meaningful as possible.  

Jessie talked about IOA and its 24 programs that enhance the quality of life for older adults.  She also discussed age-related changes and the particulars of working with a frail older population, and I added tips that I picked up from my experiences.

Another SIA youth with his elder partner

My main tips were never judge anyone, especially elders, by first impressions and don’t be afraid to interact with the seniors or engage them in conversation.

After our sensitivity training, which went very well, we were ready to teach. Our group was comprised of five high schoolers and two junior high kids.  Everyone that went was passionate about art and enthusiastic about interacting with elders, as they were allowed to choose their service day elective.

At IOA, we paired each youth with seven elders and worked on a drawing-interview activity, in which we filled boxes with drawings of each of their favorite things (e.g., food, animals, places).  

The students then stood at the front of the room as they presented their project and told us about themselves and their partner elder.  

It was an excellent activity in my opinion because it helped us all learn about each other and our interests.   

All the seniors loved the class and so did the students.  One of my peers even told Jessie and me that “serving the seniors really made me feel like I was making someone’s life a little better, something I aspire to do in the future”.

I’m so glad we were able to not only help the seniors have a good time, but the kids as well.  Throughout the course of this wonderful day, Jessica and I were able to expand and improve IOA’s arts program.

Not to mention, we enjoyed it as well!

Duncan McDonell

Stuart Hall High School

San Francisco, CA

Class of 2016

Young People Changing the World

(Photo: iStockphoto.com/mangostock)

Grace Chen developed two critical skills while teaching older adults how to use new technology. Duncan McDonell had a break-through with an older student during an art class. Aaron Smothers learned an important lesson while documenting seniors.

All three -- under the age of 25 -- are not only recipients of our Youth Jumpstart Grants, but they’re also among the millions of youth improving their communities every day through service.

Youth advocates and mentors will celebrate those efforts this weekend as part of Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) 2014, the only day of service dedicated to children and youth.

During that time, young people around the world will engage in work with schools, youth organizations, nonprofits, community and faith-based organizations, national service programs, government agencies and adult mentors.

Established in 1988, GYSD is the largest service event in the world, with celebrations each year in more than 135 countries.

(Artwork: www.volunteerhr.org)

The Washington, D.C., celebration kicks off today with the 25th Annual National Service-Learning Conference, co-hosted by the National Youth Leadership Council and Youth Service America (YSA).

In honoring this annual event, we're highlighting a few young who addressed critical issues and changed their communities.

As part of the C & T Youth Technology Academy in Rockville, Maryland, Grace Chen was part of a project where she and her peers tutored older adults on how to surf the web, check e-mail, and operate cellphones, digital cameras and tablets.

She developed two important skills: the first being patience. “As a high school student who is constantly balancing school work and extra-curricular activities, I never need to slow down or wait,” Chen explained.

Life at the Ring House senior living facility, however, moved at a pace slower than what she was initially used to until she caught on.

“When I began conversing with the residents, I found myself wanting to slow down, becoming more patient,” noted Chen, whose group also assisted the residents with memoir writing. “It was…[a] skill that I realized could be applied to my life outside of the Ring House.”

Patricia and Duncan

She also developed solution-based approaches to challenges.

“When teaching some of the residents new technologies, it was easy to become frustrated,” Chen explained, recalling a day when the older adults struggled to click the left mouse button.  

When the residents grew anxious about their inabilities, the young tutor changed the direction of the conversation.

“At that point,” Chen noted, “we began to talk them through the steps, taking their mind off the difficulties.”

Duncan McDonell had a similar break-through with an older student during his art class at the Institute On Aging (IOA). (Read Duncan's blog post, Art as a Tool for Intergenerational Communication)

“I once taught a man named LiBorio who seemed to be very unresponsive while being taught,” McDonell recalled. “He didn’t want to paint, and he hardly spoke in class.”

But overtime, LiBorio came around and eventually painted a breathtaking nature scene and called McDonell’s name, which surprised everyone.

“What happened next was even better,” the art teacher explained. “LiBorio shook my hand and thanked me humbly and, after this kind gesture, he said, ‘I hope I see you soon, Duncan.’”

That experience showed McDonell first-hand the benefits of young and old working together.

Duncan's programming

“I realized what a powerful tool art can be and how it can be a wonderful aid for communication,” McDonell recalled. “I also found that one should never judge anyone, especially a senior, by first impressions.”

Aaron Smothers' time with the City-Wide Resident Council was just as enlightening.

In that project, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Smothers and his peers explored the history of Roosevelt Community Homes, a 314-unit public housing community that built in 1952, through discussions with seniors and a video project that took 2nd place at a community film festival.

Young and old “taking the time to work together and learn from each other,” Smothers recalled, “was amazing to watch.”

He appreciated the opportunity to work with the Saint Paul Public Housing Agency and the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN).

Part of the program’s requirements included Smothers and his peers taking a seven-week media course over the summer to learn videography.

The experience taught him something else.

 “I learned that a big part of helping [to] close the digital divide as well as the cultural divide,” Smothers explained, “lies in both sides of the age spectrum.” 

Art as a Tool for Intergenerational Communication

Duncan and Patricia

EDITOR’S NOTE: This guest post and the photos appear courtesy of Duncan McDonell and his advisors at school and the Institute on Aging.

I’m Duncan McDonell, a sophomore at Stuart Hall High School in San Francisco, and I use art as a tool for intergenerational connection.  

As an artist, I have always had a profound interest in teaching art to help people enjoy themselves.  The challenge was that I lacked opportunities to do so.  So when my service learning director, Mr.O’Connor, found an opportunity for me to teach art to seniors, I was thrilled.  

I started teaching art during my freshman year by volunteering at the Institute On Aging (IOA), where I was introduced to my mentor and art program director, Jessica McCracken.  

My initial experience teaching was wonderful, and I was immediately excited about future classes and intergenerational work.  Since then, Jessica and I have worked in a variety of media to interest and excite our students.  We have taught painting, drawing, card making, watercolor painting, and tissue paper painting.  

Thanks to the Youth Jumpstart grant, Jessica and I have been able to expand our program by involving more volunteers and by gaining more publicity through this article and other forms of publicity.  These new volunteers will be coming in on March 14th for a school service day.

Jessica and I also do exercises with our seniors to engage them not only visually but physically.  

Duncan's programming

By using a mixture of media and doing physical exercises, it helps us engage our students, especially those who unfortunately suffer from Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.  

Through my work at the IOA, I have learned a lot and have had many touching experiences.  For example, I once taught a man named LiBorio who seemed to be very unresponsive while being taught.  He didn’t want to paint, and he hardly spoke in class.  

After I worked with LiBorio for quite some time, he eventually painted a beautiful nature scene.  After the painting was finished, LiBorio called my name.  It was such a wonderful surprise that he knew my name, but what came next was even better.  LiBorio shook my hand and thanked me humbly and, after this kind gesture, he said, “I hope I see you soon, Duncan.”  

Many seniors’ talents are sometimes overlooked because of their age or physical or mental condition.  People ought to focus on what seniors can do, not what they can’t.

From my experience working intergenerationally, I feel that there are many benefits of young and old people working together.  As a teen, I’ve learned a lot from the seniors and I’ve benefitted from some amazing stories they’ve shared with me.

Duncan at a sensitivity training

On the other end, I’ve found that seniors can benefit from younger people as they’ve confided in me and have complimented the class practically every time.  

Through this experience, I realized what a powerful tool art can be and how it can be a wonderful aid for communication.  I also found that one should never judge anyone, especially a senior, by first impressions.  

Duncan McDonell

Age 15

San Francisco, CA

Writers of all ages are invited to submit guest posts on intergenerational issues to our Together Blog. Here are the submission guidelines.