By Kelsey Wright '18
This fall, Old Dominion University's Darden College of Education started offering a program that gives students an opportunity to work hands-on with residents at the Beth Sholom Village Assisted Living, Rehab & Skilled Nursing Facility.
Park, Recreation and Tourism Studies 410, taught by Instructor Shelly Beaver, is an interactive, two-part course for students who are interested in a career as a certified therapeutic recreation specialist. "The ultimate goal of this program is to enhance participants' overall wellness, including their physical, cognitive, social and emotional health," Beaver said.
The first 10 weeks of the course were taught by Beaver as a lecture in a traditional classroom environment. However, for the remaining part of the semester, students enrolled traveled to Beth Sholom Village, located in Virginia Beach, to work with clients who are living in a long-term care and assisted living facility. The students engaged with the residents while facilitating physical fitness-themed activities.
As part of the program, students were required to come up with a full physical fitness routine and implement it themselves from beginning to end. The residents range in various ages, abilities and levels of fitness, giving students the opportunity to interact with actual clients and apply what they learned from class in a real-world setting.
This is the start of Beaver's third semester in the Department of Human Movement Sciences, and she believes this type of hands-on method of learning is not only beneficial for students as they work towards their professional careers, but also in their everyday lives.
"Students often expect to grow professionally through participation in this program; however, the personal growth they experience is often just as great, if not greater," she said
Having implemented a similar program at Penn State Altoona, Beaver has seen the impact the results of this style of learning have on a student's preconceptions of working with older adults, helping them gain higher self-confidence. She has also experienced that interaction with the students having a positive impact on the clients' self-confidence. The high energy and motivation that the students bring has a positive effect on the residents that choose to participate. Even if some residents might not choose to, they are still welcome to watch and are still fulfilled with the same level of satisfaction that accompanies the youth involved.
Beaver decided to partner with Beth Sholom Village on this program because she noticed there were limited learning opportunities for students that focused on the older adult population. Beaver said she wanted to create a course that allowed students to work with this population, as many professionals in the therapeutic recreational field work a lot with older adults in facilities, such as Beth Sholom Village.
Beaver believes this partnership is a great way to connect with the local community and provide assistance and knowledge to those who are in need. Students are able to learn in a traditional environment to start, then are able to apply the concepts hands-on. Not only do the residents gain increased levels of physical activity, but "they have the opportunity to connect socially with a younger demographic, allowing them to reminisce, reconnect and feel young at heart once again," said Beaver.