Anoka-Ramsey Community College faculty member, Susan Dunn broadened the perspectives of her students in College Writing and Critical Reading last spring by introducing them to residents at GracePointe Crossing, which offers a full continuum of care for senior living in Cambridge, Minn.

As part of the service-learning requirement in Dunn’s class, each student met with a GracePointe resident three times to conduct interviews, conducted research on specific historical events that occurred during the resident’s lives, such as wars and cultural events of historical importance, and then wrote a biography of the resident.

“Our society often focuses nearly exclusively on youth, and their success. By interviewing those who have lived full lives, students are able to broaden their perspectives, evaluate how much has changed over the last 100 years and reflect on their personal goals and values,” says Dunn.

“Students were strongly impacted by the fact that most of the residents began their lives working hard on the farm, using horse and buggy, and socializing mostly at church,” continues Dunn. “They learned about the impact of World War II, John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the Great Depression. They also became more aware of how political and social aspects affect their and their parents’ lives."

“I was very impressed by the students,” says Sharon Crawford, Director of Volunteers Services at GracePointe. “Some students even scheduled more time to interview to make sure they had all the information. I am looking forward to more intergenerational projects with Anoka-Ramsey students.

GracePointe participates in a program called LifeBio which provides life story recording resources for elder communities. The LifeBio program provided a template for the students to use to produce a bio for the residents, which made the project proceed more smoothly, according to Crawford and Dunn.

At the end of the semester, each student gave the final project to the resident they worked with and both the students and the participating residents watched “Young at Heart,” a PBS documentary on an elderly rock-n-roll group.

A resident’s family member commented to Crawford that the student who wrote her loved one’s life biography did a “beautiful job.”

Dunn was so pleased with the results of the project both for her students and for the GracePointe residents; she is currently working with GracePointe to develop another project for the fall 2010 semester with her poetry class.

For more about the LifeBio program or other volunteer opportunities at GracePointe, please contact Crawford at 763-691-2140.

For more information about Dunn’s poetry class or any of the innovative learning experiences happening at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, please visit www.AnokaRamsey.edu.

Anoka-Ramsey Community College student, Randy Larson and GracePointe Crossing resident, Stella Elizabeth Tews pause from a college project that documents the life stories of GracePointe residents, including inventions and historical events that happened during her lifetime.