by Irene Bergman

Irene was the Service Learning Coordinator at Oak Grove School in Brattleboro, VT for many years. Students at Oak Grove have participated in many service learning projects for many years, developed by Irene and a number of teachers at the school. These activities have been well supported with assistance from community volunteers. Oak Grove is part of the Brattleboro Town School District in southeastern Vermont. With a population of 12,000, Brattleboro is a regional center for social service agencies offering students excellent opportunities for developing partnerships. RSVP (Retired Seniors in Voluntary Service) and its director Gini Milkey have played a key role in supporting these activities.

Retired Senior Volunteer Project, (RSVP), Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Oak Grove School's Community Service Learning Project began an innovative intergenerational project. As a result, five RSVP volunteers at the hospital began sharing their work at the hospital with Oak Grove sixth graders. They worked together for an hour a week for 8 weeks.

This special one-to-one experience opens up opportunities for students to serve in many different aspects of the hospital system. It is also an excellent school-to-work experience. Perhaps best of all, it is an opportunity to develop a special relationship with an older person. We began with students in Patti Neubauer's 5/6 grade classroom, who were oriented to the project early in January of 1995. The orientation was conducted by Gini Milkey, director of RSVP, Kristin Fagin, Head of Volunteer Services at the hospital, and myself. Students saw a video about RSVP and volunteerism, heard about specific work at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and had the opportunity to ask questions about the project.

STUDENT JOURNAL REFLECTIONS

Next they were required to complete a job application, describing why they wanted to participate in this special project. They were asked for their prior experiences, their interests, and why they felt they should be chosen to work at the hospital. They were also required to get a letter of reference from a classmate.

 The response was terrific. The RSVP and BMH volunteers' orientation included information about the service learning project, their responsibilities as volunteer partners, and basic child development information about preadolescent children. The six students served as excellent representatives of our school out in the community. I'm very proud of them.

Most intergenerational projects involve seniors helping students or students helping seniors. In contrast, our project links students and seniors together as partners involved in meaningful work who provide services for a third group. The seniors also serve as mentors to the students. This project is an important component of Oak Grove's "school-to-work" experience as well as an opportunity for students to develop a special relationship with an older person.

 A second expanded session of this project was offered in the spring. RSVP volunteers at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and the Brattleboro Senior Center "Meals on Wheels" project shared their volunteer jobs with 14 students in Patti Neubauer's and Dot Gorenflo's classes. This year we will offer RSVP volunteers the opportunity to be Partners in Service with younger students at several local nursing homes as well as at the Hospital and in the "Meals on Wheels" program.

Of Seniors, Kids and Art
During the school year, fifth and sixth grade students in Nancy Sprague's class at Oak Grove School in Brattleboro, Vermont worked on a variety of intergenerational service learning projects, both at the school and out in the community.

Students made "memory collages" with volunteers at the Brattleboro Senior Center.
Students and seniors worked at Holton Memorial Home, an assisted living facility, to sew baby quilts for Aids babies, through the A.B.C. Quilt project. Seniors also helped students research their genealogy. At the Gathering Place, an Adult Day Center, students and seniors, wrote poetry together and seniors shared their stories about their experiences growing up and their memories of 5th and 6th grade.

As a part of their study of the immigration experience, students interviewed many local seniors about their personal experiences coming to this country. "Our Intergenerational Service Learning Project, last year, was the foundation of our exploration of the immigration process. Through oral history and interviews, my students were able to find out 'first hand' what immigration was like." said classroom teacher Nancy Sprague. "They also learned that elders have a great deal to offer and that they love to spend time with children."

Seniors joined students, parents and school staff on a field trip to the Ellis Island Museum in New York City. Other senior volunteers joined students at a tea and band concert at Oak Grove School near the end of the school year. "It was amazing to watch how differently students who had participated in the project related to our guests from the Gathering Place, several of whom are handicapped and in wheel chairs." says Irene Bergman, (Oak Grove's service learning coordinator). "The intergenerational project students warmly welcomed their senior partners and friends, brought them cookies and juice and sat with them throughout the concert. Some students who had not had a chance to get to know these fine people giggled nervously or ignored them." As a finale, the Intergenerational Service Project was beautifully depicted in an exhibit shown at the Senior Center and the Brook's Memorial Library in downtown Brattleboro.

 May is Senior Arts Month in Brattleboro and Oak Grove School is actively involved in celebrating the Arts with their senior partners. They worked on two exciting intergenerational projects. In the first, Andy Davis,chorus director, and Irene Bergman organized an intergenerational concert featuring Oak Grove 3rd and 4th graders and eight senior singers, most from the AARP Senior Singers, as their contribution to Senior Arts Month. The concert, which happened at the school on the evening of May 15th, offered a medley of favorites chosen by both the seniors and the students, including "Side by Side," "Grandfather's Clock" and "The Rainbow Connection."

In the second project, eight Oak Grove students along with art teacher Nancy Clements and senior artists Trudy Crites and Richard Billings painted the first third of a three-part intergenerational mural on the wall at the Brattleboro Senior Center. The first section of the mural ("Brattleboro Past") was completed as part of Senior Arts month in May. This fall, students and seniors are working on the second section ("Brattleboro Present"), and plans are being made to complete the mural with students and seniors sharing their vision of "Brattleboro Future" in the spring of 1997. We are also hoping the senior artists will come to Oak Grove and help to paint an intergenerational mural for the walls of our new school addition.

Many of the local seniors who have been involved in these projects were RSVP volunteers. RSVP and Oak Grove developed a strong partnership. RSVP's help with transportation, recruiting volunteers with special interests and skills has been invaluable.

The curriculum and program exemplars showcased here have been contributed by educators in the field. Many were originally featured in Community Works Journal, or in Connecting Service-Learning to the Curriculum. We thank our contributing educators and their students for making their work available to us. Please contact us if you would like to share and 'exemplar" or reflection of your own. CWI EXEMPLARS: Exemplars Main l K-8 Exemplars l 9-12 Exemplars l Higher Ed Exemplars l Community Based Exemplars l Community Works Journal