Senior Citizens Share A Wealth Of Experience In Visit To Briarcliff Middle School

Press release from the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District:

Connections across generations can be meaningful.

Sixth graders in Ali Mazza’s English Language Arts class at Briarcliff Middle School recently participated in a special intergenerational pen-pal project with members of the Atria Assisted Living Facility in Briarcliff Manor.

The students connected with the residents to explore the power of relationships while reading “One for the Murphys.”

After a conversation with Instructional Coach Maggie White, Ms. Mazza visited the Atria and asked its director, Bridget Moody, if any of the residents would be interested in writing hand-written letters about relationships.

“The Engage Life director, Bridget, not only agreed; she took it a step further,” Ms. Mazza said. “She ordered copies of the book for the residents who are in Atria’s book club to read during the month of November.”

After reading the book, the residents wrote letters to the students and each week, one group of students would write back. The letters from the residents were then read aloud in class.

“Whenever we would get a new batch of letters in, we would sit in a circle on the floor of my classroom,” said Ms. Mazza, who drove back and forth to the Atria each week to exchange the letters between the residents and the students. “We would read aloud quotes from each of the letters that stood out to us and discuss why they stood out.”

The letters from the residents were about both the book and their personal relationships, and how relationships throughout their lives had impacted them, while the letters from the students focused on the book and the relationships in the story.

“I got one of the first letters, and I wrote to my pen pal about the book, but I also asked them about some of the relationships that impacted them,” Divya said. “She responded about her relationships with her kids and husband. It was cool to get to know how they view relationships, and it gave me a new perspective on relationships and also about the book.”

The project culminated with a community celebration. Eleven Atria residents visited the school and gathered with the entire sixth grade in the Little Theater, where five students read “thank you” speeches aloud.

In the speeches, students picked one quote from the residents’ letters about relationships that impacted them in a significant way.

Divya picked a quote from Atria resident, Paul’s letter, that said “Relationships are one of the most important parts of life – and they can change,” while Aubrey picked a quote that said “Positive light dispels darkness in the world.”

The five students discussed in their letters how the pen-pal project impacted them.

Next, everyone went to the cafeteria and were divided into groups with one resident and about eight or nine students in each. Each group participated in a “Hexagonal Thinking” activity to reflect on relationships in the story.

Several other staff members of the Atria, who also read the book, circulated around the room to assist.

Ms. Mazza and the students presented the residents with plaques where students wrote why their relationships with the residents mattered to them. The residents also received bookmarks and a pair of cozy socks that Ms. Mazza bought.

The event left a deep impression on the students.

“This experience helped us see relationships in a new way,” Divya said.

Aubrey agreed.

“I learned from the pen-pal project to listen to the people around me and to value what I have.”

“This experience taught me that stories don’t only live in books; they live in people,” Harrison said. “Writing to friends who are older than me reminded me that connection across generations can be just as meaningful as any story I have ever read.”

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This press release was produced by the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.