​Today is my first time to visit the ring house in months. There were some residents patiently waiting for us with their phones, ipods, laptop and questions. The old lady got a list of questions from her bag. The first thing I did was to help her using iphone. She said, “I can do the basic things with iphone, but I want to focus on it.” She then told me that sometimes she missed the phone call but she cannot find the number in a moment. So I told her what to do step by step, finally, she could find the number in “recent”. Then, I helped her identify a phone number and save it to her contacts. She made a phone call first and figured out who he is. Next, I taught her how to create a new contact, she listened to me carefully and finally grasped. At last, she told me that she still had some problems on how to delete the photos quickly. We opened the “photo” first, and then clicked on “select”, then she choose the pictures that she doesn’t need and click on “trash” icon, she felt very happy and hugged me for a long time.
I am amazed that she prepared her questions so well. Overall, it was a fun experience helping people and I hope it’s just as good in weeks to come.

~Written by Cassie Shi
​Edited by Xiaorong Zhang

Photos by Xiaorong Zhang

Photos by Xiaorong Zhang and Qi Zou

​While people started their day walking through the colorful fallen leaves on this beautiful Sunday morning, October 11, 2015, a group of C&T young technology helpers kicked off their first InterGenerations community service for the school year of 2015-2016. Taking place in Ring House, located in Rockville Maryland, the InterGenerations program has served this CESLcommunity for five years.

"Hi, I’d like to watch the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, can you help me?” an elder lady asked as she walked into the library and wanted to use the Internet to see the show.  "Yes, we can, let us help you." said Peter and Leo, the juniors of the program, immediately assigned the task to themselves. They quickly found the show, however the sound did not work. After a few tweaks here and there, and with the additional help from Vincent, who is this year's student president, the three of them soon made the sound work for the elder lady. This is just one example of scenes you will observe during the C&T InterGenerations service.
 
Ms. Deborah Rittenhouse, the Arts Specialist from the Ring House, and Ms. Ruyan Teng, the President of C&T, initiated this unique program. They believe that creating this kind of opportunity is beneficial both to seniors and teenagers. In the Ring House, our technology savvy students can utilize their strength to help seniors who are in need of learning technology to enrich their retirement life. In return, these seniors have so much to share with the younger generation because of their life experiences and wisdom.  As Mrs. Teng proudly stated, “This is such a win-win situation and I am so glad that I kept this program regardless of the difficulties we had encountered. The connection between our students and seniors is a one of a kind bridge that we are building to promote communications and understanding among people from different generations in our community”.
 
On this year’s InterGenerations crew, there are a few new members. One of them is Bailey, a junior college student from the University of Maryland. Today was his visit to the Ring House, but he was so ready to help out. When asked about his feeling of the Ring House, he said “this is great, I love the environment, I have a ‘fuzzy’ feeling about this place”.  
 
“Wow, they are so good, they helped me making wedding Invitations”, another very content elder lady informed Deborah at the end of the ‘tech hour’. She told Deborah how satisfied she was with her helpers, Peter and Justin.
 
To help is to be helped. “Thanks so much, Justin, you are a wonderful helper”, “No problem” replied Justin, ready to help more people. Justin, a junior high school student, is a returning helper for the 4th year, and is honored to serve as one of three senior consultants this year. On the car ride to the Ring House, prompted by Mrs. Teng, he gave a brief orientation to other participants about what is expected as a tech helper for this community service. Over the years of practice, he has learned that a neat presentation, nice manners, listening and readiness to offer help are some of essential components of this program.  

“Honey, it is a whole new world, and I love it”, a resident said to Deborah.  “I am glad.  Come back in two weeks when they are here again.” replied Deborah. Mrs. Teng added “Wonderful, we had such a good start, our helpers grew a lot and I am so happy to see that!”
 
A good start sets a spark. If kindled correctly, this spark can light up a fire. No doubt about it, today’s successful visit will motivate our helpers to improve in the coming visits. With the continuous support from the parents, these tech helpers will continue making magnificent memories with these wonderful elders.
Written by Xiaorong Zhang

Photos by Ruyan Teng and Xiaorong Zhang