Nazareth Students Begin St. John’s Meadows Class with Experiential Tour

An extremely popular program at St. John’s Meadows, which has connected independent living residents with Nazareth University students for more than 15 years, kicked off another semester with one of its largest classes to date this week. Ten college students were joined by an equal number of residents from St. John’s independent living communities Brickstone by St. John’s and St. John’s Meadows, for the first of 18 of the once-weekly class of “Adulthood and Late Life.”

Led by Dr. David Steitz, Director of the Gerontology Program, Co-Director of the Spiritual Care Program, and Professor in Psychology at Nazareth University, the class brings the learning out of the traditional classroom and into the community.

“Learning should not only take place within the walls of a traditional classroom space. I formed a partnership with St. John’s in 2009 to offer college courses for Nazareth students and elder residents together at St. John’s Meadows, where students practice and apply what they learn from their studies. Students in these multigenerational courses learn from, and with, the elders to gain perspectives and knowledge that cannot be delivered simply by a professor or textbook. My teaching is intergenerational and service-learning-based to best meet my students’ personal and professional training requirements,” says Steitz.

Campus Tour Launches Real Learning

For the first time in its history, this kickoff class included a different experience for the students that was meant to begin reversing their possible misperceptions about senior living well before the actual classroom learning began. While Dr. Steitz met with the residents to go over classroom logistics, the students were taken on an interactive tour across the St. John’s Meadows campus with St. John’s Vice President of Marketing Jennifer Lesinski.

“I hoped to engage them in coversation about what they were seeing and ask questions that tested their assumptions about aging and living in an older adult community,” says Lesinski. “I was excited to be asked by Dr. Steitz to spend time with the students.” Along the tour, students not only viewed popular campus sites like the Market Cafe, the indoor pool, medical suite, art gallery, and cocktail bar, but they also met and spoke with residents they met along the way.

According to Lesinski, she also asked the students questions along the tour such as “”When you hear the phrase senior living, what words come to mind,” “What do you imagine a typical day looks like for someone who lives here,” and “What do you think residents gain when they move here?” Lesinski said that expected themes like “safety,” “socialization,” “assistance,” and “solving isolation” came up.

However, there were also some surprises for the students on the tour, specifically when they saw the number of activities and amenities available for the residents in the community. One student said the guest apartment they were shown was “much better than any college dorm.”

A Semester of Teaching Each Other

When the students arrived back to the classroom after the tour and re-joined the residents, it is certainly possible that they had a slightly more informed view of the St. John’s resident experience. However, as is the purpose of the next 18 weeks, the students will certainly learn more valuable lessons from each other.

Perhaps Dr. Steitz says it best when he comments on the importance of intergenerational programming for all involved: “Because I work with older adults in multiple settings (courses, community service, research, etc.), I am fortunate to learn just as much from older adults as do my students.”