Living History in the Making
Mattek's students bridge the gap of time with seniors
Ubiq Editor
The Senior Center of West Bend was a bustle of activity. College students met with some ready-and-willing seniors. Armed with interview sheets and sharpened pencils, students began their journey, a journey to more than just the past.
Dr. Michael Mattek is on a journey or mission of his own. Wanting to bring education closer to the community and vice-versa, he is involving his students in a study of life, someone else's life.
Mattek is sending his English students out into the "real world" with the task of interviewing seniors and writing biographies - finding out who they are and what journey they took to get here. Students chose their subjects from the Senior Center of West Bend, Samaritan Health Center and Cedar Ridge.
Students receive practice in interpersonal communication and interview skills. Grading emphasizes students' writing skills. Mattek looks for papers to have specific details of their subjects, such as hobbies, family backgrounds, etc. Students need to find an angle and use it to pull the story together.
"Seventy percent of the grade is writing skills, and 30 percent is on content," said Mattek. The students seemed to like the assignment.
"Older people ... listen and like to be listened to," said Michelle Schreier.
Sherry Mikulak wanted to know how the seniors felt about their own past and future. "If I could give you three wishes, what would they be?" asked Mikulak. Mikulak was surprised when Joyce Pennock replied with wishes only for others.
A popular subject was the Great Depression. Hearing about history from someone who journeyed through it was definitely a plus of the class. "Hearing about how hard the Depression was on families made you value your own family more," said Mikulak.
But not everything was an open book; sometimes the students would hit upon a topic that the seniors just didn't want to talk about. "Certain areas they just didn't want to open up, they were kind of standoffish. So you just keep going on family, and they usually will come back around," Schreier said.
Mattek coordinates these service learning opportunities with the help of Betsy Wilcox from the Volunteer Center of Washington County. Students start by signing up online with the center, and the center takes it from there. This "immerson excursion" brings students and the community together. It allows for solidarity between the span of ages and has another value. It not only helps fulfill the mission of the college, but it makes the college look more inviting when it comes to awarding grants.
Mattek is working on coordinating a grant in cooperation from Americorp-Vista Volunteers. Americorp offers full-time workers to help coordinate and build programs for the well being of the community. Many colleges already have a liaison from Americorp-Vista, already in place at their campuses. "Getting students actively engaged in the learning process will help them remember what they have learned and allow them to continually use it," said Mattek, "combining experience with the book stuff. It just makes people happy."
For more information, go to http://www.americorps.org/about/ac/index.asp.
