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Senior Center Awarded

December 4, 2003

CARROLLTON, GA - The Carrollton Senior Center was awarded the Innovated Program Award by the Georgia State Parks and Recreation for its involvement with a service learning project with the University of West Georgia.

Service learning is a type of education that involves student engagement in activities that focus on human and community needs. Students majoring in gerontology took an Aging Families class and spent approximately 20 hours during the semester interviewing senior citizens at the Carrollton Senior Center and the Stewart House Assisted Living Home. From these interviews a life history of the senior was constructed and videotaped for the seniors to keep or give to relatives as a memoir.

“The Life History project was one that will preserve the folk lore of the past for many years to come,” says Wayne Gay, director of Carrollton Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department. “The students were persistent in documenting the history to ensure that there would be a record for future generations to look back on.”

The Aging Families class is involved in service-learning again this semester, working with the four assisted living homes in Carrollton and the Newnan Senior Center. The UWG Master of Arts in Gerontology program was the first of its kind in the state, offering students a practice-based program of knowledge and skills for working with older adults.

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