Over the course of the summer, DOROT College Interns are contributing content to our website and social media to share their experiences.
One month ago, 24 high schoolers walked into DOROT. Tomorrow, they will leave the building with fuller hearts, buzzing brains, and maybe a few tears. As a college intern, it has been a joy to watch the teen internship program unfold these past four weeks. Through workshops, museum visits, pizza lunches, and tapestry tours, the teens have formed strong relationships with each other and the older adults with whom they have crossed paths.
This month, I helped facilitate a COVID-19 discussion group, a series of legacy projects, and a theatre group called Playbuilding. Each workshop brought the generations together to create something different and unique. In the COVID-19 discussion group, the participants shared their experiences and emotions from the past two years. Throughout 7 sessions, the teens and older adults collaborated to make a “planet” of their experiences on a sphere. They painted, collaged, and drew on the spheres, producing beautiful tributes to both their COVID experiences and the discussion group itself.
In Playbuilding, led by the wonderful Allie, teens and older adults crafted 5-minute scenes based on the theme of Jewish Ritual. There was never a dull moment in this workshop, where everybody got to laugh and act like kids again. Between moments of fun there were important lessons to be learned about the importance of family and ritual.
For legacy projects, teens visited older adults in their homes and gathered photos and information to use in a scrapbook about their life. Through these visits, meaningful bonds were formed and original artifacts were created.
This month was rich with human connection, and I feel grateful and excited to be at DOROT to witness another session of intergenerational fun!
- Ruby Goodman is a Summer College Intern in the Intergenerational Engagement Department working on the Summer Teen Internship. She is a rising sophomore at Tufts University majoring in American Studies.