Intergenerational Living

Intergenerational Living During a Gap Year

A Pleasant View resident poses for a photo with a student.

While a majority of students head off to college immediately following high school graduation, some students choose to take a gap year. A “gap year” is defined as a year of experiential learning that is taken after high school, prior to attending a post-secondary education institution. In Manheim, Pennsylvania, Pleasant View Communities has partnered with OneLife Institute to provide opportunities to high school graduates interested in spending a year living and volunteering in an intergenerational setting. Through the OneLife program, students have an opportunity to serve others while gaining valuable career and life experience.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk about the partnership with Jonathan Hollinger, CEO/President of Pleasant View, Josh Beers, President of OneLife and Logan Stoner, Site Director for OneLife at Pleasant View. This group shared that despite the program being relatively new—this August will be the program’s fourth year at the Manheim location—it has enthusiastic backing from participants, administration, and residents.

Pleasant View hosts approximately 25 students for the school year. While living “on campus,” students can explore various career areas including landscaping, fitness, health care, administration, chaplainship, and even agriculture. The OneLife program is accredited through Cairn University and offers students college credits upon completion. The students also help out and attend scheduled resident events at Pleasant View and travel internationally and throughout the United States providing service in underserved communities.

Each OneLife student is assigned a Pleasant View mentor, a PV pal, during the program term. Adult mentors generally meet with students once a week to catch up over coffee or another activity. These check-ins provide an additional opportunity for intergenerational interaction and informal learning. The casual meet-ups also strengthen relationships and enable participants to find common denominators despite the age gap.

The Benefits of Intergenerational Living

As we spoke, Jonathan Hollinger shared that he believes the OneLife program and intergenerational living offer numerous benefits for everyone.

Students:

• Exposure to many career paths
• Opportunity to have an adult invest in them
• Develop soft skills in one-on-one interactions that come from being away from screen time
• Offers a transitional time of a college-life living setting while maintaining a family/grandparent home setting.

Residents:

• Opportunity to mentor a young person
• Students provide energy and excitement to the campus
• Opportunity to learn new things such as technology
• Provides a sense of purpose.

Pleasant View Community:

• Opportunity to put empty space on campus to good use
• Extra hands to help out at events
• Campus has an enhanced vibrancy
• All PV team members are encouraged to take part in the program.

The research on the subject backs Jonathan’s views. In addition to the benefits noted above, intergenerational living can bridge generation gaps and dispel stereotypes about young and old people as well as create and foster a supportive community. The program in place at Pleasant View has also created long-lasting bonds and friendships between mentors, residents, and the students. Many keep in touch through letters, emails, and calls long after the program ends.

Intergenerational Living and Learning on a College Campus

The benefits of intergenerational living are known to higher education institutions and many are taking action to formalize opportunities for their students. Edenwald Retirement Community and Goucher College have partnered with RLPS to create a new community in Towson, Maryland. The development includes three high-rise towers that overlook Goucher’s campus and connect to the existing Edenwald community. Through this partnership, Edenwald residents will be able to take classes, attend events and be involved in the local community.

Goucher will be creating classes for Edenwald’s lifelong learners and planning trips abroad that will be tailored to students of all ages. Through this model, Goucher College and Edenwald can take advantage of each other’s strengths, while complementing each other’s interests and capacities, and provide a vibrant community for students and senior residents.

Other campus environments

Besides the opportunities highlighted at Cairn University and Goucher College, other higher education institutions and senior living facilities are beginning to incorporate various facets of intergenerational interactions. In Pennsylvania, the Kendal-Crosslands Community in Kennett Square provides opportunities with West Chester University and the University of Delaware. The Village at Penn State takes advantage of its location in State College, and Pittsburgh’s Chatham University and Vicentian Schenley Gardens personal care home have a unique program in which students can live at the personal care facility at reduced rates in exchange for weekly service hours. New York’s Purchase College also currently has a program.

Intergenerational living fosters a vibrant exchange of knowledge and experiences that benefits people of all ages. Whether through gap year programs or university partnerships, these innovative living arrangements create connections that bridge the generation gap, combat social isolation, and provide opportunities for learning, no matter the age.