{"id":96176,"date":"2024-04-25T14:12:32","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T14:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=96176"},"modified":"2024-04-25T14:12:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T14:12:32","slug":"wachusett-students-become-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2024\/04\/25\/wachusett-students-become-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Wachusett students become teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Ken Cleveland<\/em>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/em><\/div>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 Technology can be a good thing. But for those who did not grow up with it, high tech can take some getting used to.<\/p>\n

Those who grew up with rotary dial telephones and cords keeping them tied to heavy phones have adapted to new tech, but mastering the capabilities beyond what a telephone was traditionally used for takes a little tender loving teaching. Cell phones do not not come with manuals, and things the younger generation find intuitive are not necessarily so for senior citizens.<\/p>\n

For many senior citizens, Wachusett Regional High School students have come to the rescue, taking on the teaching role.<\/p>\n

\"\"
HOLDEN – Wachusett Regional High School senior Sophia Mellon, right, and Martha Barbernitz discuss the features of Barbernitzs cell phone during a class at the Holden Senior Center. Photo Credit: Ken Cleveland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThey do a great job explaining things,\u201d Jackie Butler said as students recently went through advice on navigating the internet, including things to do \u2014 and not do \u2014 and then providing hands-on assistance in the final of six classes.<\/p>\n

The classes at the Holden Senior Center started almost by accident, but have proved to be popular.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty-six seniors signed up for the first six-week session, which was held each Wednesday,\u201d outreach director Dale Hayden said, referring to the first classes held in April of 2022, after drop-in sessions in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen WRHS students arrived to help with the training. The students walked to the Senior Center each week from the high school. At times there were 14 students providing assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, students completed the fourth six-week session.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students who began in 2021 as WRHS sophomores will be graduating this spring, and we are going to miss them very much,\u201d Hayden said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
HOLDEN – Wachusett Regional High student Lauren Hazelwood, left, helps Jackie Butler with a question during the final session of a cell phone class at the Holden Senior Center. Photo Credit: Ken Cleveland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The senior center \u201cstudents\u201d may also miss the high school students.<\/p>\n

But the Wachusett students indicated they will do drop-in sessions to continue offering advice, even as some prepare for college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really good,\u201d \u201cstudent\u201d Anne Queenan said of the help she got, from putting a screensaver on to using the WAZE app.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt (Using the phone) was a lot easier than I thought,\u201d Queenan said, with the personalized instruction. \u201cI just got the phone, and no one showed me how to use it.\u201d But, she said, the students turned the phone into more than a phone, although she admits she uses it mainly for calls and voicemail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like them. They are very good at presenting things,\u201d Queenan said, noting she likes the programs at the senior center.<\/p>\n

The group of Holden high school seniors answered questions and sat down to show how specific aspects of the phones worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids are great,\u201d Martha Barbernitz said. \u201cThey are so helpful.\u201d She said she had been afraid of “pushing buttons” before they helped her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey answer every question and sit down with you,\u201d Barbernitz said. With children living out of town, \u201cI can zoom with them and Facetime,\u201d adding she loves seeing her family, which gets together on Zoom weekly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is going well,\u201d WRHS student Sophia Mellen said. \u201cThere were some challenges with having to explain things. But once we got past that, it went well.\u201d<\/p>\n

WRHS student Lilly Mastrototoro noted that \u201cYour phone is a tool. It\u2019s good to be tech literate.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said her \u201cstudents\u201d were good learners. \u201cThey did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very diverse what they teach,\u201d Nancy Benoit said of what she learned in the class. \u201cI learned a lot of things I didn\u2019t know before. I\u2019m glad I was able to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benoit added, \u201cThe girls do such as wonderful job. They get an A-plus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wachusett students did drop-in classes the first year, and then students Allison Deskins, Lauren Hazelwood and Elina Lindberg designed a curriculum for a six-week course.<\/p>\n

Lindberg said one key was patience as they explained new tech.<\/p>\n

As a bonus, \u201cWe learned empathy for our teachers at school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized how complicated tech is,\u201d Hazelwood said. \u201cWe grew up with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teaching the classes, she said, \u201cMakes us feel better about ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazelwood said she helped one woman contact her daughter in Oklahoma, so they can connect by email after helping her set up her iPad. Another bonus, she said, is that the \u201cstudents\u201d have interesting stories to share.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also a way to have some socialization,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mastrototoro said as the classes progressed, \u201cthey are becoming more self sufficient\u201d with technology that grows so fast.<\/p>\n

Initially, \u201cI had no idea how to do anything,\u201d \u201cstudent\u201d Ritva Makela said. \u201cI learned quite a bit. They come in asking if they can help. They show you how to do it,\u201d which is something most of the older students said they never had and appreciated.<\/p>\n

The graduating WRHS students are planning drop-in opportunities every other week to answer questions, Lindberg said.<\/p>\n

The WRHS students are trying to get people to take it over since all the current students are seniors.<\/p>\n

The classes began several years ago, Hayden said, when she had a phone request from a WRHS student asking if any senior residents in Holden could use a dog walker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe student explained that she needed to do so many volunteer hours to be considered for the National Honor Society,\u201d Hayden said. Having no seniors needing dog walkers, she said there were many seniors needing assistance figuring out how to use their cell phones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked the student if she would be willing to come to the Senior Center after school for a drop-in cell phone support session with our senior residents. I suggested that any student needing volunteer hours would be welcome and greatly appreciated,\u201d Hayden said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drop-in program was a huge success, with three to five students each week assisting our seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Cleveland Landmark Correspondent HOLDEN \u2014 Technology can be a good thing. But for those who did not grow up with it, high tech can take some getting used to. Those who grew up with rotary dial telephones and cords keeping them tied to heavy phones have adapted to new tech, but mastering the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-school-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}