Feeling connected to the local schools can be easy when you have a child or grandchild going through the school system. But without the familial link, the connection between the schools and the community becomes more tenuous. Mahtomedi Generations, a student-led group at Mahtomedi High School, aims to reconnect older community members to the schools with the students who fill them, restoring the link and building a bridge between generations.
Group president Abigail Ardito and group treasurer Elizabeth Ward founded Mahtomedi Generations, called Generations for short, in 2012. Meeting every other week, the group of 10 students work diligently to plan details surrounding the five to six events they host during the school year. Depending on the event, 10 to 12 adult community members attend. Events range from hosting play previews at the school to student-led high school tours to game nights held at the Wildwood Branch Library. Students organize their own fundraising through selling magazine subscriptions and selling Zephyr tumblers. They also manage the Zephyr Gold Pass, the program they launched to allow older community members to attend school-sponsored events, including sporting games, plays or concerts, for free.
Whatever the event may be, the interactions between the generations promote growth. “I think teenagers find it intimidating to talk to older adults other than their relatives,” Ward says. “The two generations don’t have many chances to interact and may feel like they don’t have a lot in common.” Through interacting with older adults, the students learn how to engage with them. And it’s the little things that help foster positive relationships. The students make huge efforts to be great hosts at the events, greeting their guests, being good listeners, speaking clearly in conversations and writing follow-up thank you cards.
One of the reasons the group was started was to provide the opportunity for the generations to interact, bond, learn from one another and dissolve generational stereotypes. Each generation has different inherent wisdom to share, while the conversations also expose shared middle ground. “We are having experiences in our youth that they didn’t have and vice versa,” Ardito says. “We are finding that our experiences are different but very similar. It’s fun to talk about this when we get together.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” says community member Sarah Weddell, who first heard about Mahtomedi Generations through the school district’s quarterly paper. Weddell has both children and grandchildren linked to Mahtomedi public schools. Attending multiple Generations events, Weddell appreciates the group’s purpose because to her, staying in touch with all community ages makes more interested citizens. “I think anything that can get people to cross paths with younger people and participate with things going on in the school district is worth anybody’s time.”
No matter how big or small the interaction, participants are sharing their lives with one another. Ardito remembers an interaction with an older man who attended a play preview. His wife had passed away and he had not left his house in over a year. That Generations event was his first social event in a long time. He chatted to Ardito about his wife and how excited he was to see the play. “It meant so much to me, because I realized that in this instance, we were making a difference in someone’s life,” Ardito says.
Whether speaking about big life events or engaging in small talk, Mahtomedi Generations creates opportunities for older and newer generations to cross paths. The group’s impact is growing: Generations attracts repeat guests who bring friends. High schools across Minnesota have approached the Mahtomedi students about their work. The goal for this upcoming year is to help other schools use their Generations model to build more bridges and bring communities together.
Find information on upcoming Generations events on the group’s website and Facebook page, or in The Scoop, the district’s quarterly newsletter. For any inquiries surrounding the events, email mahtomedigenerations@gmail.com, or call 651.426.5600.
