History
Lessons of a Lifetime™: Bringing Together Social Entrepreneurship and Research
Social entrepreneurship and academe tend to be considered unrelated disciplines. Though scholars often influence social projects, the relationship is at best distant. For Lessons of a Lifetime™, however, research and community service are complementary and fundamentally interrelated. In addition to offering a life-changing experience for students and seniors (and in the near future, students handpicked because of their diverse religious groups) it provides participants with the option of taking part in a research program designed to understand the shared values between people of different ages and demographic backgrounds. It is hoped that all participants, whether or not they partake in the study, are sharing their wisdom for the benefit of posterity. However, those who take the additional step of participating in the research program are leaving a legacy to the entire society.
With help from two research teams, one at the Research Institute on Aging at the Charles E. Smith Life Communities and the other at Connecticut College, Lessons of a Lifetime™ is currently studying ethical wills based on two themes: age and gender. With a treasure trove of data, there is a great deal to be learned about the so-called “age gap” and gender studies, with a particular eye towards commonalities and understanding shared values. Its next area of study will be on common values across religious groups. The overarching goal of this research is to gain an understanding of prevalent values and concerns in different groups in order to inform future activities in social entrepreneurship and academe. For it is difficult to increase tolerance between different groups of people without first understanding where differences and commonalities lie.
Because of its “two-pronged” approach of research and service, Lessons of a Lifetime™ is uniquely suited to improve relations throughout society, most particularly between youth and the elderly and members of different religious groups. Ethical wills provide access to immense stores of wisdom that can guide future programs in all areas social entrepreneurship, while the process of recording them is in and of itself a formative experience.
Intergenerational Leadership for an Intergenerational Program,
As described by project co-Director, Joshua Stanton
In March of 2006, I called Hedy Peyser, the Director of Volunteers at the Charles E. Smith Life Communities (CESLC) in Rockville, Maryland. I was already an experienced student leader, having founded the Amherst College Multifaith Council and co-chaired Amherst College Hillel. However, I lacked experience in leadership beyond my college campus. At the time I was a sophomore in college looking to put my new history major to use over the summer by training high school students to record the life stories of residents at the CESLC. However, Hedy suggested an even more compelling idea: to record the ethical wills of seniors. Ethical wills, I quickly found out, were collections of the thoughts, hopes, and messages that a person wanted to pass on to posterity as a personal legacy. They described not only what happened during one’s life but also lessons learned from those experiences. I soon began working with Hedy to design the project materials, including a training guide for students, a set of interview questions, and informed consent forms.
Yet it may not be fair to say that my desire to find something to do over the summer and use my knowledge of history is adequate. In fact, the founding of Lessons of a Lifetime™ and its rapid expansion owes a great deal to Hedy Peyser, who not only helped shape the program but also served as my mentor. What I held in vigor and vision she complemented with pragmatism and a clear sense of the steps we needed to take towards achieving a goal. She respected me as an equal, despite the fact she had over 30 years of experience and imparted incredible wisdom to me about the art of administration.
In many ways our relationship embodies the spirit of Lessons of a Lifetime™. Though we may be of different generations, we work together and utilize our respective strengths as we work towards common goals.