While hundreds of adolescents at Cougar Mountain Middle School outside of Seattle chatter away at lunch time, at one table, 7th grader Mateo Sanchez-Hernandez engages in chess with Bob Fritz, an 83-year-old retired engineer and middle school volunteer, as described in an Education Week article. Fritz lives at Timber Ridge, a senior living community adjacent to the school. “These kids are a joy to be around,” Fritz says. “Doing this keeps me going.”
Fritz is one of about a dozen residents from neighboring Timber Ridge who volunteers regularly at Cougar Mountain Middle School. Some are mentors who meet weekly with their mentees. Another founded one of the school’s most popular after-school clubs. One works weekly with small groups of band and orchestra students.
Students and Timber Ridge residents regularly walk to and from each other’s campuses for theater and music productions and other events. A sky bridge connects the school’s main building to a bus loop close to Timber Ridge. Residents have played an valuable role in the lives of their middle school neighbors and vice versa.
As they transition from children to teens, adolescents often wrestle with their identity, self-worth, and relationships. Social-emotional competencies, such as the ability to feel and show empathy for others and maintain supportive relationships, prove key to adolescents’ maturation process, say experts.
Intergenerational partnerships that bring together school-age students and older adults provide a natural way to grow children’s social-emotional skills. In a review of 10 years’ worth of studies on intergenerational programs between school-age students and older adults, researchers identified several benefits to students: a more positive attitude toward older adults, improved school attendance, greater confidence, and stronger social skills.
One example: the AARP Foundation’s Experience Corps pairs older volunteers as tutors with elementary-age children struggling to read at grade level for an entire school year. The foundation tracked the reading and social-emotional-learning progress of 101 students at nine schools who were enrolled in the tutoring program during the 2018-19 school year. By the year’s end, students showed reading progress and significant improvements in SEL assessment scores, especially in the areas of personal responsibility, relationship skills, and decision-making.
Students enrolled in the program started the school year at high risk of developing social-emotional problems compared with their peers nationally and ended it almost on par with national norms.
A key ingredient to a successful intergenerational partnership is easy, routine access. School and senior living campuses are usually not neighbors, which makes interactions and volunteer opportunities logistically challenging.
Not so at Cougar Mountain Middle. Timber Ridge resident Werner Henn videoed the school’s construction and posted the progress on social media, triggering excitement among the residents about their new neighbors, says Erin McKee, the middle school’s principal.
Henn eventually became a mentor at the middle school. “He was the genesis of this partnership,” McKee says.
McKee taught in Japan early in her career, where she witnessed preschools operating in buildings that doubled as residents for older adults, a setup that helped foster interaction between the two groups. When Cougar Mountain’s doors opened next to Timber Ridge, McKee saw possibilities.
Four years later, an established and growing corps of older volunteers commits their time and talents in numerous ways.
“It’s really just about building relationships with somebody outside of school, with no biases,” says Brad Grow, one of two school counselors at Cougar Mountain. “Someone in their corner.”
Mentors can provide academic or social support, depending on the students’ needs. Generally, about 10 to 15 Cougar Mountain students receive this one-on-one mentorship during an academic year; this year, 12 students are enrolled.
Staff members who interact routinely with students may refer a middle schooler to the program, and participation is voluntary. Students “might share pretty intimate things with a mentor, if they’re really hurting,” Grow says. “Then I can reach out to families and make sure it’s on their radar.”
The partnership allows Timber Ridge residents to showcase their own talents and skills to a new generation. Eric Leberg, a 79-year-old Timber Ridge resident, volunteers with the school’s band and orchestra and continually impresses students with his seemingly endless ability to play multiple instruments. He admits that he wasn’t sure how willing students would be to learn from someone his age.
He no longer worries about it. “I walk around the school and the students say, ‘Hi Mr. Leberg.’ It’s total acceptance,” he says.
Fritz feels the same acceptance from his mentee and chess mate, Mateo, too. “I’m not here to tell him what to do,” he says. “I’m here to be his friend, to help him out where he needs it, and just to have a good time.”
Education Week
