"Fridays this fall, 82-year-old Marion Gommerman will be sitting in a Toronto classroom alongside fellow university students young enough to be her grandkids. It's a journey that began with a seed planted a year ago when she participated in the class with other residents of her assisted-living facility in Toronto. Relishing the friendships she made and hungering to know more, the course got her thinking about returning to studies she'd started decades earlier."
"Now, she's enrolled for credit as a University of Toronto student. Her first course explores health and Canada's aging populations. "If I didn't take [the] opportunity, I'd be wasting it," Gommerman said. "It's not to get the paper.... It's just to feel that I was able to accomplish it and test myself." Canadians don't always get opportunities to deeply connect with people in other age brackets, but some who are learning alongside each other describe it as an energizing and illuminating experience that benefits everyone."
An 82-year-old woman enrolled as a University of Toronto credit student to study health and Canada's aging populations after participating in a class at her assisted-living facility. She sought intellectual challenge, accomplishment, and social connection rather than the credential. An assistant professor has adapted a decade-old health and aging course to include seniors' in-class visits and to host sessions inside a local seniors' home. Elders often listen to lectures on dementia risk factors, social isolation, and retirement planning. The immersive, intergenerational classroom has generated energizing, illuminating interactions that benefit both seniors and younger students.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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