Taylor Hurst draws the shape of a heart with a black marker in the center of a sheet of paper.
As Calen Singgo takes a small, round robot – called an Ozobot – and places it at the bottom of the heart, he turns to Bobbie Blackshear and tells her to watch, which she does as the robot traces the marker line, following the shape of the heart.
Two of the group members, who are programming the small robots to trace shapes and then recreate them on electronic tablets, are rising fifth-graders at Red Bank Elementary. Blackshear is an elderly resident of the Red Bank Life Care Center.
Taylor and Calen have been visiting the center a few times a month during the school year, interacting with and learning alongside the rehabilitation and long-term care facility’s residents.
Their teacher, Beth Wilson, is the mastermind behind the program. And, thanks to a national Fund for Teachers grant, she will travel to Europe this summer to learn about intergenerational centers and bring back strategies for Red Bank’s very own “iGen” program.