Margie Hesse peered through her gold-framed glasses at a bright computer screen, her right hand cupping the adjacent mouse. Next to her, Mira Costa senior Eric Vandenberg coached her as she composed a status update on Facebook.
“It’ll be in my newsfeed?” 85-year-old Hesse asked, while gently typing on the keyboard.
“Yeah, it’ll go to all your friends,” Vandenberg said with a bright, boyish smile.
While Hesse has had a Facebook account for about a year, she struggles to use it. Luckily for her, Vandenberg, co-president of Mira Costa’s Young at Heart club, showed her how to send private messages, post public comments and check her newsfeed. “He’s a good teacher, too,” Hesse said. “You’re never too old to learn.”
Minutes later, Vandenberg pointed out that a friend had commented on Hesse’s status. With a smile, she inched the computer screen toward her to get a closer look.
Hesse and 17 other seniors gathered in an on-campus computer lab last week for two hours to not only learn Facebook, but also learn basic computer skills – how to set up and email account, check and send emails and join social networking sites – from Young at Heart members.
For two hours, club members switched roles from student to teacher. “It’s nice to see kids shine in something that isn’t my discipline,” said Linda Gesualdi, a math teacher at Costa who began the program three years ago. Her students met with local seniors once three years ago and twice last year. This year, Gesualdi and her students created the club – eventually, they hope to meet with local seniors once a month. The next session will be held in June.
“Facebook and the Internet made life so much easier for so many people,” Vandenberg said. “Just because they’re older doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the opportunity to learn.”
[scrollGallery id=359]Gesualdi reached out to seniors through Jan Buike, supervisor of the Manhattan Beach Older Adults Program. The senior participants appreciate the one-on-one attention, she said. “I get calls immediately after saying, ‘When’s the next one?’” Buike said, adding that the students are considerate and knowledgeable. “How many teachers have students that would come here and work for two hours? It takes a lot for someone to motivate students to do that,” she said.
Across the room, 86-year-old Margaret Mehall was logging into her email account and learning how to search on Google. “He was so patient with me — next time he deserves a better student,” she laughed, adding that she hoped to buy an iPad before the next session. “My daughter-in-law pushed me to come and I’m glad I did.”
One lady came to learn how to cut and paste, and left with a cheat sheet a student created outlining how to do so.
Babara Miller, 80-year-old science teacher at Pasadena City College discovered more than just an Internet connection during her one-on-one session.
“Are you Bryce’s grandma?” a pony-tailed girl wearing a red zip-up asked her.
“Yes,” Miller replied, surprised. Her grandson is now a sophomore in college.
“I’m Kelly, I’m Bryce’s ex-girlfriend,” she said. The two laughed and later turned their attention to the computer.
“I want more of this,” Miller said, adding that learning skills in small doses is effective. “It really helps.”
Manhattan Beach resident Julie Fay Fuhrman was impressed with the student instructors’ knowledge and friendliness. That day, she learned how to change fonts, colors and sizes in Word and in emails. “They put up with you,” she laughed. “Because it’s a snap to them, because they were like born and bred on it. But for me, it’s such a new concept. I just hope that they continue it, and I’m always happy to come back because I always learn something new, always. And you get to meet new friends.”
Mani Thirumalaisamy learned how to identify junk mail in her inbox. “The program is very interesting, it’s good for the kids, as well as good for the older people,” the 76-year-old said. “I use my Internet all the time, but I came here just to have fun.”
