Students from Years 7 and 8 at Pacific Hills Christian School recently visited residents of Yurana at Elouera Gardens Christian Retirement Village, trading a normal school afternoon for conversation with people several decades older than them.
Year 7 teacher Jason Mok had set the tone beforehand, telling students the goal wasn’t complicated: use whatever you’re good at to make someone else’s day a bit better. For most students, that meant sitting down, asking questions, and actually listening to the answers.
Year 7 student Elliott left the visit with a clearer sense of what that looked like in practice. He said the residents don’t get the same range of choices in daily life that he and his classmates take for granted, and that gap helped make the time together feel worth it.
By the time the visit wrapped up, both groups had picked up something from the other — the students a few stories and a different view of getting older, the residents an afternoon with more noise and company than usual. Nobody involved seemed in a rush to leave.
