Seeking to build dialogue with elders in the community as part of a service learning project entitled “Slices and Stories,” ninth grade students at The Masters School visited the Dobbs Ferry Senior Center, where senior citizens shared stories and life lessons with them. After listening to their wonderful stories, the students then wrote about what they learned in their “interview.”
For the first time, the students’ reflections will be on display, along with photographs of the local senior citizens, at the Dobbs Ferry Public Library from May 14 through May 31. Anopening reception for the exhibit will be held on Thursday, May 17, 2012, at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend.
“The students’ study of Homer's Odyssey has led the way for these students to think about their responsibilities to the greater community,” explains Masters School English teacher Miguel Segovia, whose three classes participated in the project. “Students have come to recognize the gift of wisdom that sharing with others affords, and that talking around a Harkness table cultivates. If sharing stories is the medium that brings us closer to others, we stand to inhabit others' points of view, to see, if briefly, through their eyes. By engaging with senior citizens with whom they feel generations of separation, teenagers learn to see their world anew, with a renewed perspective on what gives life meaning: fellowship.”
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"Stories and Slices is a very meaningful intergenerational program," confirms Abby Connett, director of the Dobbs Ferry Senior Center. "The students and senior citizens connect, learn, and even find they have much common. It is one of our favorite events at the center and we look forward to hosting it for many years to come! I am very thankful to Masters Director of Community Service Amy Atlee and The Masters School for valuing the senior citizens in our community and supporting a program like this....it truly makes a difference in their lives. They talked about the luncheon all week!”
