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The following article appeared in The Catholic Transcript, September 2000.
The
young and the old—it's a natural connection
By Linda Ann Scacco
Special to the Transcript
Sunlight streams onto bare wood floors through tall windows edged with
wooden frames the color of maple, ash, pine, Douglas fir—all trees
that stand on the grounds of this building. It's the School for Young
Children at Saint Joseph College, founded in 1937 by the Sisters of Mercy.
It's in a newly restored building on Steele Road in West Hartford.
The building defines connection to the natural world. The classrooms are named for these same trees: the Pine Room, Maple room, Oak Room. Doors are propped open with large stones taken from the surrounding woods. Tables and chairs of oak and ash connect with the overall theme of each room. Inside, a mural, floor-to-ceiling, is filled with wildlife of New England. Outside, it's window bird feeders, a hill for sledding, and a rustic pine playground.
Connection to the natural world has been the school's theme from its inception at the new building. Now an extension of this theme, in the form of two intergenerational programs, is under way and helps to fulfill the mission of the founding Sisters of Mercy.
FRIDAY
FRIENDS
Developed by former SYC kindergarten teacher Carol Collins, the first
of these programs if Friday Friends, a program that has been in existence
for several years.
Every Friday afternoon, the kindergarten class makes a "field trip" across the street to visit their friends, a group of senior citizens living at the McAuley Center retirement community, also run by the Sisters of Mercy. They play games, do crafts, read, talk together and make connections.
On one Friday they gathered together outside the McAuley. The kindergarten teachers talk about having the children garden with their "Friday Friends" after the last frost. No one is without a smile.
The children bring along a catching toy made from a gallon milk container and a rolled-up newspaper ball. The children toss the "ball" back and forth to each other, catching it with their container. A couple of seniors join in but most watch, cheering the players on.
Fran is a former teacher. She is bright-eyed and exquisitely dressed, her crimson nail polish a perfect complement to her red blazer and lipstick. Although her body appears immobile in her chair, she waves delightedly to everyone whose eye she catches and she applauds almost continuously throughout the visit.
Connie, an energetic senior citizen, is ready for a game of catch. She has an infectious laugh, chases the ball like a schoolgirl and is happily exhausted when the children leave.
The children's "Friday Friends" are sometimes invited over to the school. This year they are delighted by a performance by the kindergartners called "Neighbors in Space."
They line the front rows of the small "theater" along with parents and grandparents and applaud just as proudly.
REACH
OUT AND READ
The
second intergenerational venture going on at the School for Young Children
is the Reach Out and Read (ROAR) program. Three women developed and sustain
this program. Carol Collins, Sister Fay O'Brien, and Taffy Wilcox, who
among them have 101 years of teaching experience, put together the program.
The program meets the Sisters of mercy's goals: community outreach and bringing the young and old together. The program is funded by the Fisher Foundation, which granted it $10,000 in its first year of operation.
Fifteen senior citizens, about half of whom are Sisters of Mercy, participate in the once-a-week read-aloud program. Every week, the volunteers pick up their "bookbags" from a filing cabinet and take the books to their assigned classroom.
Alice Dostaler enters in her wheelchair. She brings an 8-by-11 inch piece of paper on which she has drawn a "stained-glass" painting. It is filled with bright pastels. The children love it.
"I just love stained glass and I told the children that I love to make drawings that look like stained glass," Alice said. "So they told me to bring one in to show them and here it is."
She finds a place to read. She chooses "Froggy's First Kiss" and she is as delighted to read as the children are to listen.
Why does Harry Brown come here? "Because I like to read and I love children. They're the hope of the world." Harry was a schoolteacher on Long Island for 45 years. He came to the McAuley Center to be closer to his son and grandchildren after his wife died in 1997.
Sister Mary Aldea is a teacher who knows how to read to little boys. She is a tiny woman, gentle but firm and she draws the children around her. At first there are three children, soon six, all boys, squirming but listening to a modern-day fairy tale, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. The story is new to Sister Aldea. The boys know it better and they correct her when necessary. She accepts their corrections willingly.
Sister Mary Breen is soft-spoken; her eyes sparkle when she smiles. She too knows how to engage a child. One little girl, dressed in pajamas for pajama day, sits close and listens to her story about snow.
Sister Mary lets her turn the page and count the snowflakes on each page. She asks the child questions about the story and does not forget to wait for the answer.