Healthy Aging Scholarship Essay

Well, this is it, the final post for this wonderful adventure that I and my fellow students have been on over the last two quarters. Never would have I thought that becoming a Life Course Scholar would be so fulfilling and expose me to countless opportunities and experiences I will hold for years to come. From the friends, I made, to the people I met, and the places we visited in between being a Life Course Scholar has truly been the highlight of my undergraduate career.

As I reflect on the culmination of my time in this program, I look to provide a debrief regarding my Healthy Aging Project, highlighting lessons learned and overall experience. As described in an earlier blog posting, I along with some of my peers put on an art class for seniors at Bayside Community Center in Linda Vista. We provided the art supplies, an art instructor, as well as food throughout the event. It was an intergenerational event, made up of seniors and young adults, as well as children all painting a beautiful picture of a bird. At the end of the event, each person was able to take their piece of art home, and as they did, they all expressed their sincere gratitude towards putting on the event. Furthermore, we were asked by multiple people if another event like this would occur again, and my hope is that the next cohort will be willing to step in and do it next year.

That being said, in future events such as ours would need to more actively recruit younger individuals to be apart of the class. This will allow rich conversations between both young and old and further, enhance the events experience. Another small thing that I would have changed is increased the overall time of the event to allow for more instruction as well as time for discussions after the event to