When the New Westminster Youth Centre opened its doors in September 2010, it was a bold experiment. With the new centre at Moody Park adjoining the Century House seniors' centre, could youth and seniors successfully share a space?
The answer has been a resounding yes.
"It's gone even better than expected," said Sandon Fraser, the city's youth services coordinator, in a recent sit-down with The Record. "The Century House membership has been super supportive of everything we've tried to do on the youth side."
Fraser, three youth and three seniors all sat down to share their perspectives on the facility, and they all had the same message: The shared space isn't just working, it's brought benefits to both sides beyond anyone's expectations.
"I think it's a real benefit," said Annette Oakes, president of the Century House Association executive.
She notes that the seniors benefit from being able to use some of the youth centre space in hours when the youth aren't using it. That means they have access to a computer lab, the exercise room and a multipurpose space where they play table tennis, badminton and pickleball.
Beyond that, the youth and seniors have reached across the generation gap to work together on a variety of projects. A Celebrating the Differences forum shortly after the new youth centre opened was a huge success, as was another project that wrapped up with a gala this past April: Heart 2 Art.
Heart 2 Art saw the youth and seniors work together for months, with workshops in five separate areas of the arts: mosaic, variety, spoken word, theatre improv and photography. Each area had a youth leader and a senior leader, who worked together to lead workshops for youth and seniors that culminated in a grand finale performance.
"I loved the experience," said Meagan Schlee-Bedard, a 17-year-old Douglas College student who served as the youth leader for spoken word. She has nothing but good things to say about working with senior leader Margo Prentice and the senior participants. "I learned so much from them, and somehow they managed to learn from me."
Maddie Clarkson, who was the youth leader for variety - which incorporated song, dance and acting - agreed.
"I found it really inspiring," she said. "It shocked me a bit how much I really learned. I was teaching them, but it was like they were teaching me at the same time. It just exceeded all of my expectations."
Though another large, formal joint project like Heart 2 Art isn't yet in the works, the youth and seniors are keeping the cross-generational connections alive.
The centre now runs monthly youth-senior dinners once a month, cooked by both seniors and youth, served in Century House, and open to anyone from either side who wants to attend. Youth volunteers are also attending Century House once a month to lead sessions for the seniors in how to use technology like smartphones and tablets.
And, for both sides, the biggest joy has just been getting to know each other.
"I feel like it's great. For me, at first, I was afraid of the generation gap," says Howard Dai, a Grade 11 student at NWSS. What he's learned, he says, is that they aren't so different.
"They are exactly the same people, but they have way more wisdom and way more experience."
