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Stories of a Lifetime
Students Capture Tales of Local Seniors
Louisville Times
July 1, 2004
Students from a nearby prep school have uncovered a rich educational resource in Louisville.
It's not a library, but it is full of stories.
It's not a school, yet it brims with lessons.
It's not a job, but it offers a wealth of experiences.
The resource is the living history offered by residents at Louisville's Balfour retirement community.
This fall, eighth-grade students from the Bridge School — a prep school near Louisville's western border — will embark upon an exploration of the community's tales, wisdom and knowledge.
The journey will be the third in an evolving "service-learning" program that began with simple visits and transformed this year into a year-long, multi-discipline project that combines school skills with life lessons.
"The students were working on their interviewing skills and their writing skills, and at the same time on building relationships," said Lee Quinby, principal of the school. "I characterize this as service learning in an ideal sense because learning is happening on both sides — the seniors, by talking about their lives, had an opportunity to educate kids about life's challenges, and they also learned a lot about their own lives."
Working in pairs, 24 Bridge School students were matched with Balfour residents, whom they visited once a month for the entire 2003-2004 school year.
"I guess I came in thinking it would be a difficult thing to do because they would be incompetent or wouldn't be able to hear, or that their lives would really just be normal," said Camille Brunel, who interviewed Willie Howard for her project. "Now, I think that's a really unfair perspective. They really do have a lot to offer."
At the end of the project, the students wrote brief biographies of their subjects, selecting one aspect of the seniors' lives for an essay vignette.
"I thought it was really difficult to choose just one thing out of an entire life," Brunel said.
Each senior received a copy of his or her biography, with a picture inside — 92-year-old Myrtle Werner keeps her copy in her room and, despite relying on a wheelchair to get around, eagerly offers to retrieve it for visitors to peruse.
"It was just interesting to meet the girls and hear their side of the storyStheir life is very different from ours. I enjoyed it when we got the books and pictures," Werner said.
Bridge School students also found the differences interesting, from family life to technology to women's roles and careers.
"I gained a lot of appreciation for all the things I have. Myrtle grew up on a farm, and it was like work all the time. All the things I have, she never even dreamed of," said Madi Hernandez, who interviewed Werner. "I also gained an appreciation for the seniors of our community — and of the world — and all the things they went through."