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Perpetual Bloom

By Samantha Mocle | Photos by Todd Dionne

From infants to centenarians and every life stage in between, learners at Lasell University know no boundaries when it comes to age. In fact, the institution intentionally fosters educational experiences and multigenerational opportunities in both social and academic settings to break down barriers and build community.

Lasell is home to the Holway Early Childhood Centers, which include on-site day care facilities at the Barn and Rockwell; youth innovation programs for adolescents to develop skills in areas such as footwear design and social justice writing; early college programs for high schoolers; undergraduate, graduate, and professional skills courses for learners of all ages; and Lasell Village, a living and learning retirement community with a 450-hour annual educational mandate for its residents.

Taken separately, these entities offer knowledge pathways for learners of all ages; together, they create fertile ground for growing an intergenerational community that thrives on empathy and strives for equity. now, we can let others know.”

Nurturing Growth

When we talk about Connected Learning, we aren’t limited to the links between learners and real-world experiences; Lasell’s academic philosophy is just as important in the way it connects people.

Zehra Abid-Wood, president of Lasell Village, sees magic in the community’s intergenerational connections.

“The power of our community is that we understand the benefits of relationships across generations and the power of learning to resonate beyond age.”

Take, for example, the ongoing interactions between children at the Barn and Rockwell and their campus peers at Lasell Village. Miller enjoys seeing her students learn and explore alongside the residents.

“We had one gentleman who would build trains with the kids — they would always ask when he was coming back,” she says. “We have residents who bake with the children, do crafts, and maintain a community garden.” In addition, she says, the children join Village residents for Teddy Bear Tea in their dining area and collaborate on campus art displays.

Montepare says that intergenerational exchanges like these are a powerful way to dismantle ageism.

Adds John Dixon, dean of education at Lasell Village, “The friendship comes from taking a class and then having a meal together afterward. When you bring together intergenerational groups, you need social opportunities to support the academic experience to find that everyone is a person, not just a classmate isolated to one topic.”

University students and Village residents host joint social events including trivia nights, talent shows, and more to support those relationships. Many Lasell students also work at the Village as servers, bartenders, lifeguards, and office staff, which leads to ongoing interactions that, according to Dixon, move from social chats at the pool to ones about careers and networking.

Devin Zambruno ’22, sales and marketing specialist at Lasell Village, is grateful for her interactions with Villagers both as a student and in her current role.

“Listening to the residents and their life experiences gave me a new understanding of navigating what I thought my life plan was versus what it is now. I was going through a big life change after graduating from Lasell and was working with residents who were going through a similar big change in moving to a retirement community,” she says.

“That built trust. There may be years between us, but the wisdom the residents offer has changed my perspective.”

Tope Badejo, a graduate student who works part time at the Village, goes to work every day feeling like he is among family. “It is a model for the future,” he says.

Age Inclusivity at Lasell

The Age-Friendly University (AFU) initiative was launched in 2015 by Dublin City University. Under the leadership of Joann Montepare of Lasell’s RoseMary B. Fuss Center for Research on Aging and Intergenerational Studies, Lasell became the second American institution designated an AFU.

AFU principles encourage older adults to participate in a university’s core activities and promote facilitation of reciprocal intergenerational exchange in the classroom. As ambitious as that is, Montepare and colleagues at UMass Boston pushed for an even more inclusive campus model and recently developed the Age Inclusivity Domains of Higher Education (AIDHE) with grant support from the RRF Foundation for Aging.

“To really be age-inclusive, campuses have to look across the many domains that impact students, faculty, and staff: teaching and learning, student affairs, research, personnel, services, community engagement, and the physical environment. So, we’ve expanded the model,” she says, adding that research shows that building in the opportunity for people to develop relationships is key.

“It’s not just about learning in a classroom together; that’s limited,” she says. “It is about living in the environment and working as a community.”

That work is done in large part by the Fuss Center, described by Zehra Abid-Wood, president of Lasell Village, as a “linchpin between the University and Village campus to guide and foster understanding.”

Montepare’s recent retirement leaves space to welcome a former Fuss Center faculty fellow, Charlotte Frazier, into the director’s role with an enhanced vision for the future.

“Lasell is in a unique position as an established AFU with a dedicated center for intergenerational studies,” says Frazier. “We can build upon that to become a hallmark to the external community. Within our community, we know our strengths — now, we can let others know.”

Perpetual Bloom

Planting Seeds

At the other end of the lifespan but with just as much curiosity are students at the Barn and Rockwell.

Nurturing Growth

Age Inclusivity at Lasell