Students create textbook using stories from Cambridge seniors

CTV’s Karis Mapp meets Cambridge students who were paired with seniors to hear stories from their past.

Grade 10 students from St. Benedict Secondary School got a first-hand history lesson from seniors living at a Cambridge retirement community.

A history project assigned in February saw the kids paired with the elders to learn about their past.

“We had that human connection and intergenerational approach to the whole project,” explained Lisa Wollziefer, the teacher of the students.

Over multiple sessions, the pairs got to know each other better. Students then took the life stories they had heard and transformed them into a modern-day textbook.

The seniors were presented with the finished book Friday morning.

“I can’t express enough how special it is. I was crying when they were presenting their stories,” said Maddie Slater, a manager at Seasons Retirement Community Cambridge, who helped coordinate the collaboration.

With the students currently studying WWII in class, it was a special treat for those who were paired with seniors who were alive at the time.

“I never met my brother until I was four years old. That’s when he came back from the war. So that was interesting, touching that part of [my] life,” said 84-year-old Bryan Schofield.

“Those are memories that I put away in the memory bag. But, when we started talking, they all kind of came back gradually.”

John Duggan is a 94-year-old living at the retirement facility, but during the war, he was 7 years old and living in England.

His paired student, Ella Purdie, said she enjoyed hearing the stories of his past.

“One time, I think a bomb fell through his roof while he was sleeping. It was very insane,” said Purdie.

The seniors were also gifted mini ornaments from the students that reflected stories they had shared.

“I had a dog. They made this on a 3D printer for me. So I will cherish this for a long time,” Schofield said while holding up the ornament.

Many of the students said they plan to keep in touch with their new friends now that the project is over.

Uswa Iman even hopes to finish getting her volunteer hours there because she’s not ready to say goodbye to her paired senior, Anna Neuhauser.

“I didn’t really grow up with any grandmas around me, so I didn’t know what it felt like,” Iman said.