Participants in the Building Intergenerational Connections between Seniors and Students Program hosted by Conestoga’s Centre for Health Care Research & Innovation gathered to celebrate the new connections and artwork created in the latest session.
Conestoga held a celebration for participants in the Building Intergenerational Connections between Seniors and Students Program.
The program intended to build meaningful connections and a sense of belonging between students and seniors, provide seniors with mentorship opportunities, and decrease stigma associated with aging through learning opportunities and art.
“Research shows that intergenerational connections increase social connectedness, strengthens communities, increases cultural learnings and decreases ageist stereotypes,” said Linda Sheiban Taucar, director of the Centre for Health Care Research & Innovation.
Students and seniors living in the community met for weekly online sessions that included a guided art activity and discussion. The first art project was creating a pencil drawing of a calming scene, each participant sharing their creation with the group at the end.
“After this, we said everyone was officially an artist,” said Fateema Kassam, training specialist at the Centre for Health Care Research & Innovation.
MaryRose Lessoway was happy to meet everyone in person at the celebration held at the Kitchener - Doon campus on March 19.
Lessoway saw a poster advertising the program in her seniors’ building and liked the idea of connecting with young people through art, having studied fine arts and worked as an art teacher and therapist. The Guelph resident led a session on creating collage vision boards and was pleased to hear others say at the gathering that they found the exercise helpful.
Picking one favourite thing about the program was a challenge: “the connections and the sharing, hearing different voices and different stories,” Lessoway said. “I liked all of the art. It was all great.”
Conestoga student Sofia Sofia, currently in the Clinical Research program, started painting when she was a child, but couldn’t find time for the pursuit since coming to Canada to study. The weekly art time proved invaluable.
“It gave me a sense of myself back,” Sofia said.
Her favourite activity was the vision board - something she wanted to do for a long time and finally got the opportunity. Using pictures to capture her goals and dreams seemed less daunting than putting them into words, and starting with one picture she kept adding to the board now hanging in her room.
“It was a whole journey for me,” Sofia said.
Chameera Liyanaarachchi, who recently graduated from Conestoga’s Applied Research program, first joined the art program when students were partnered with people living with dementia at a Kitchener long-term care home.
“I learned a lot about art and life and aging,” Liyanaarachchi said.
She enjoys hearing about other people’s experiences during the discussions, and the time focused on art is a relaxing break from her busy days. “It’s a reward for me.”
At the gathering, participants created mini artworks to add to a community mosaic.
“We couldn’t have a celebration without more art,” Kassam said.
The program has evolved since its launch, held both virtual and in-person, but the core remains the same to bring seniors and students together to share and connect.
The current program, which is an adaptation of a previous one for high school students, launched in March 2024 and has had 43 students and 24 seniors participate.
“Both generations have so much to give,” Kassam said.
The Centre for Health Care Research & Innovationfocuses on strengthening the health-care system with collaborative, community focused research through partnerships with industry, researchers and faculty, and students. The centre team thanks the funders supporting the program: the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP) and the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging.