Dear Friends,
I hope this season finds you doing things you enjoy with people you love! Because life has as many facets as a well cut diamond, I think it is always best dealt with and enjoyed together.
We have a wonderful opportunity to share with you. It will start March 9th. If you are interested, please let us know soon! The back story is that since fall I have been a part of the Madison Chamber’s Leadership Greater Madison Cohort. We spend the year learning more about our community and exploring how we can collaborate to help it grow in positive ways. It will probably be no surprise to you that I chose to work on an intergenerational project. I hope some of you will decide to get involved! Requirements include time and interest! We are working with WESLI (Wisconsin English as a Second Language Institute)–they have a broad range of students–including youth and adults of all ages.
We are collaborating with them to set up an oral history project. It will involve two to three hour long sessions. We hope for 6 senior age volunteers. The definition of a senior could be 60 or older for this project.
The first session will focus on seniors and students getting to know each other during a fun intergenerational and cultural exchange conversation. You will be asking questions and listening to each other. We hope you will enjoy learning from each other. Examples of directions your conversation might go include a senior volunteer asking the student how/why they decided to come to Madison. Asking about their home town/city/country. If this is their first time in the United States, ask if Madison is what they expected or if something surprised them. Or you may ask what they miss about where they are from.
During the second session students will be interviewing their senior partner. The student will be writing a story, based on the oral history shared by the senior volunteer.
A possible third session will include hearing the students’ presentation of the history shared in conversations.
We are working together to iron out some details. Like finding an accessible meeting place. WESLI has a beautiful setting on the Capital Square. But driving and finding parking can be challenging. So the exact setting/transportation is being worked out. The third session may have some flexibility. It could be in person, remote or recorded.
WESLI is hoping to make this a permanent part of their program and thinking about collating the stories. So your story could become part of an oral history collection. This sounds fun, interesting and valuable to me. If you are interested, please let me know at [email protected]
XOX,
Karin