F-Y-S-O-P, Here’s what Elders Mean to Me

Despite having no music skills what-so-ever, we are probably the most musical FYCOs you’ll ever meet. By that I mean they’ve mentioned lots of songs in their previous blog posts. Today’s special post is all about what song we feel best fits the Elders issue area. Sit back to enjoy the tunes and lyrical prose of their explanations.

Mike’s Jammin’ Response:

Brett Dennen – Blessed

Life is a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, as people age and approach the end of their lives, a great number of them become isolated due to personal illness and death of friends and family. According to the National Institute of Health, 7 million of the 35 million Americans aged 65 or older suffer from depression. Almost 25% of the people living in Nursing Homes suffer from depression. But the FYSOP Elders Issue Area is all about forming community and letting the elderly know they are cared for and loved. By working with them we hope to share a love of life, “Blessed is this life and I’m going to celebrate being alive!”.

Brittany’s song:
“I Wanna Grow Old with You” -Adam Sandler, The Wedding Singer

Some people dread growing older. They don’t like the idea of losing their independence and requiring the help and care of others. I think the elders staff and first-years will learn how much fun it is to go and visit elders in different facilities during FYSOP, and realize that it’s an uplifting experience more often than not. Some elders have partners or groups of friends that they’ve known three times as long as college freshman have been alive. That’s amazing. I can’t wait until I’m 95 and my day’s plans are determined by whatever my heart desires. It will be even better if i have someone, whether it’s a spouse (maybe spouse number 3 or 4…I get bored pretty easily) or a friend that I can reminisce and cause trouble with. And maybe someone will even sing to me from the loudspeaker of a plane, offering to carry me around when my arthritis is bad.

-Mike Zimmerman and Brittany Rehmer

Elders tres palabras about FYSOP

Mike’s word word words:

Epic- FYSOP is an amazing program where 600 first-years and 150 upperclassmen come together to do about 11,250 hours of community service. That’s longer than it takes to read the Iliad. Epic I’d say
Caritas- Latin Word for charity but carries with it the added meaning of total selfless love. FYLOVE
Dance Party- What could be more fun? Besides Karaoke… (For those of you who haven’t been following along, FYSOP karaoke is a huge hit at orientation)

Brittany’s three thrilling th–words.

Unique: For my summer job last year, I spent my days and evenings behind a hostess podium at a restaurant. Standard. The year before that, I babysat. Cliche. This year, I get to work in an office with 17 crazy people who are my age, putting together an awesome community service program for 600 first-years. Need I say more?
Hectic: As much as I LOVE everyone here, sometimes the work paired with the personalities in this office can be a little…ahem…overwhelming. Let’s just say I’m running more this summer than I did during the spring semester, because I really cherish that alone time. Nevertheless, the crazier it gets, the more I love it.
Amusing: Sometimes I feel like I’m back in my junior year summer, babysitting again. I used to love to babysit because kids’ personalities never cease to amuse me, I’m always laughing and often impressed with the way they think. Although I’m not working with a bunch of 5,8, and 10-year-olds, the plethora of interesting personalities and opinions in the office keeps me on my toes. The issue areas all have something to offer, and sure, most of them involve heavy stuff, but there’s also a lot of really inspiring and funny things to be learned about FYSOP issue areas.

“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?”

Yo yo check it,

All the elders be in the hizzouse! Sorry about that… All apologies to the faithful following of readers we’ve accumulated since last week (all 1/2 of you). We’re still on a mild karaoke high from Thursday night. In case you haven’t heard, we FYCOs get to help out at orientation and that involves running a karaoke booth. The awesomeness is best characterized by Ray Curran (H&H FYCO) free styling about FYSOP.

The noble adventurers B-rit and M-ike got their feet wet in service (and literally) by going on not 1, not 2, but Thuh-ree different site visits in and around Boston last week. Dang flip-flops and puddles… The sites were amazing and there’s going to be tons of activities to do with the elders.

But not all elders have the luxury of staying in assisted living facilities. Although the national homelessness rate has dropped in past years (it dropped 30 percent between 2005-2007), the recent economic situation has put a strain on many citizens, especially elders. The Social Security payment is not enough to cover the cost of living in an expensive city such as Boston. Mortgages, groceries, and prescriptions come at a higher cost than in other areas of the country, and elders are often left struggling to meet their payments. Many students would be surprised to learn that there are more elders in this city than they think…

Because– Boston is ruled by kollege kidz right? Wrong! Kind of. Persons over 65 years of age make up 10.4% of the population of Boston. This is lower than the national average of 13%, but they are not as migratory as the typical college student. Speaking of Boston and the elderly, the Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly would like to call attention to very real issue of heat exhaustion that the elderly and those with medical conditions face on hot and humid days. Do your part to be a good neighbor and keep an eye on those who may be at risk. Thank you!

These two young whippersnappers are rolling out of here.

Brittany and Mike

A new blog…hope it doesn’t “grow old”! (harharhar)

Well, hi.

We’ve started our long and strange journey here in the FYSOP office, and even though we’re still gettin’ our feet wet, it is CLEARLY EVIDENT that FYSOP20 will be the cat’s pajamas. We’ve created a vigorous schedule that requires long, hard hours of dedication…and fun. We probably won’t get any sleep ’till September (or Brooklyn – Beastie Boys. check it.).  We’ve also chosen an awesome theme for our issue area that we’re pretty excited about…we’re not sure if it’s supposed to be a secret, so we won’t say anything just yet. (HINT#1: 5 cents in the evening….)

But really, we’re having a great time working together (awww) and learning a lot about the elders issue area already. For example – did you know that 2.5 million grandparents are responsible for one or more grandchildren who live with them? Yikes. We’ll be meeting a ton of awesome grandparents on all of our site visits and can’t wait to introduce the volunteers to all these cool cats.

All of the other FYCOs are hard at work in the office, and it’s been awesome watching the program take shape. Clearly, our issue area is going to be “the bomb dot com” (ahem, Brandon) and we can’t wait to make it the best FYSOP ever! And HOW.

That’s all folks!

-Brittany and Mike

Hmmm…old?

Hey everyone,

We are the Elders coordinators for the summer and we are excited to be the third issue area making an introductory blog rather than the ninth because its going to be harder and harder to be original. Speaking of original, that’s exactly what we are hard at work planning this FYSOP to be. We promise those that are blessed enough to be a part of Elders this summer that they will see, experience, feel, and taste (well maybe not taste) things that expand beyond your wildest dreams. We are knee-deep in Ed-Day packets, speakers, sites, and activities and are wading through what starts with chaos and ends with FYSOP (controlled chaos some may say.) So continue to check in for the Elders blog (witty title is on the way) as we chronicle our journey through the summer.

Diana Gravallese and Grant Kassel