Three students received funding for their interview training and application.

VCU Gerontology and the Virginia Center on Aging are dedicated to supporting students through scholarships and real world professional experience. Recently, VCU funded three students to conduct oral history interviews with older adults experiencing homelessness in the Richmond community. Each student was awarded a $2,000 scholarship.

On March 27, The Span Center hosted a community event in partnership with Homeward, who connected the student and professional team to the elders. Students Darius Bradshaw, Aisling Clardy, and Sylvie Lister participated in person-centered, trauma-informed interview training before the event. The training and real world application of skills are rich and meaningful resume builders, as scholarships were funded through the Virginia DINER senior nutrition and behavioral health project with the Administration for Community Living.

The narrators had the opportunity to share their stories on two topics: Home and food. This is because the students hold roles in two projects: the ACL-funded Virginia DINER Project and Home is Where I Belong, a project supported by the RRF Foundation for Aging.

A project lead for both Virginia DINER and Home is Where I Belong, VCU Gerontology Prof. Gigi Amateau has provided $100,000 in funding for students in the past two years. “Creating opportunities, like this one, for our students to make a meaningful impact in the lives of older adults is a priority for all of us at VCU Gerontology. Part of the joy of this work is learning and growing with our students!”

Scholarship recipient Sylvie Lister is a fourth year undergraduate Sociology major and a student in the 4+1 program with Gerontology. “I’ve always been interested in the social sciences and helping professions,” she said.

For this project, “We utilized people skills, academic readiness, and active listening. It was our job as their interviewer, and as a gerontologist, to listen to the older adult’s lived experiences and how it impacted them.”

Sylvie said this opportunity has made her a better gerontologist by taking elders’ lived experience “not just to research, but also into my life and into each interaction with honor. They’re not just words, but rather insight to how every interaction can become a learning experience if you listen. This project isn’t finished, but the work these participants carry are for future generations to take to heart.”