Rollins The program "Loneliness in America: Connecting Rollins College Students with Central Florida Seniors" is an initiative that is designed to link Rollins students to purposeful and meaningful ways with elderly shut-ins, and promotes students' increased understanding of issues related to aging, particularly the elevated levels of despair that many elderly shut-ins experience due to their isolation. In developing this increased understanding, participating students help lessen the effects of isolation in a significant number of elderly shut-ins in Central Florida.
Rollins has Life Legacy components in 5 courses, and two co-curricular semester freshmen experiences. A listserv for faculty, staff, and community partners allow those who work with seniors to exchange ideas, opportunities, and possibilities involving students with seniors.
Highlights:
- Students, seniors, faculty, and staff engaged and connected at a Valentine's Day Party.
- Rollin's art students and senior citizens came together to create a community mural.
- An oral histories project with Eatonville, Florida connected 16 students to an African American community where students and seniors discuss folklore and other oral traditions.
- Volunteers from the Office of Civic Engagement hosted a senior prom where 30 senior citizens enjoyed a night of dancing and playing games.
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Project Leader
Rachel Newcomb
Rachel Newcomb received a BA in 1995 from Davidson College, an MA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University in 1997, and a PhD in cultural anthropology from Princeton University in 2004. Her past research has focused on women and Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, and she has conducted research in Turkey, Egypt, Senegal, and Morocco. An assistant professor of anthropology at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, Dr. Newcomb frequently has her students conducting service learning fieldwork projects in her classes. Her goals with the Life Legacy Project were to enhance and establish relationships between Rollins and community partners working with the elderly, to create connections between Rollins students and area elderly, and to promote elder-focused projects among the Rollins faculty.
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Resources
Quotes
- "In their service projects, through weekly one-on-one visits with the elderly to learn more about the past, students gained an invaluable perspective on a number of crucial issues in American society."
- Faculty Quote
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