Chemistry of Love Collaboration Story in Next Avenue
St. John’s has a long history of spearheading innovative programs that connect residents with college-aged students. These collaborations give students from local institutions of higher learning practical, first-hand experience working with and learning from older adults. In many cases, students go on to careers in fields like health care and human services, where their work greatly impacts older populations. With the inclusion of St. John’s residents in these educational partnerships, their astute insights and range of life experiences enrich the learning process for students in ways that traditional classes cannot replicate.
Last year’s Chemistry of Love collaboration was a little different, in that it was first-year students from St. John Fisher University who partnered with independent living residents in their eighties and nineties. Residents from St. John’s Meadows and Brickstone by St. John’s travelled by bus to the nearby campus in Pittsford, New York six times during the Fall semester to join class discussions and special projects that gave students unique perspectives on the subject matter: the different types of love and how people form connections throughout their lives.