In partnership with Geauga County Department on Aging’s Senior Center Supervisor Sandra McLeod, Chardon High School English language arts teacher Lynn Monaco and Chardon Local Schools board of education president Madelon Horvath spearheaded a book club meeting on the morning of Feb. 6, uniting CHS Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition seniors with senior center participants. Attendees engaged in intergenerational exchanges on a shared reading while enjoying bagels and doughnuts together.
Author Ruta Sepetys’ Salt to the Sea was the book of discussion, a historical fiction piece that had served as the 2019 summer reading assignment for CHS students. The setting of the story is 1945 as World War II is nearing the end in East Prussia, and the book was written as a tribute to the people of Lithuania, Poland and East Prussia. The storyline follows the treacherous journey of refugees in search of freedom.
For the majority of the Feb. 6 book club event, attendees broke out into smaller groups for engaging discussions. Afterwards, one student representative and one senior center representative from each group stood before the book club as a whole to share their group’s takeaways from both Sepetys’ story and the book club event itself.
In all, the consensus was that the CHS-hosted book club generated a wonderful sharing of insights, perspectives and lively connections among the attendees.
During her post-discussion presentation, Chardon resident Barbara Carter described the additional impact that historical fiction such as Salt to the Sea has had on her.
“When I was going to school what we basically learned was from textbooks and a lot of facts,” said Carter. “And I’m getting more through book clubs and learning more about history through literature like what we’re reading today. And I’m learning it more because I can tie it to the emotion of the characters and what they’re going through. I can learn more than I could through the textbooks that I read when I was younger.”
Student Maya Pedersen, who was part of Carter’s discussion group, responded to Carter by sharing how struck she was by Carter’s experience in the richness that can be acquired beyond a textbook.
“When she (Barbara) said that, I was immediately grateful for the community that we have and that we’ve all been in English class together since we were in seventh grade,” said Pedersen. “If you think about all of the conversations we’ve had and all the ways that we’ve helped each other learn, it’s actually incredible.”
Kathleen Doyle, a Chardon resident who was employed as a teacher for 25 years prior to retirement, commented directly on her positive perception of the students at the book club event.
“One of the things that we were most impressed with were the intelligent conversations that we had with these high school students,” said Doyle. “They are very well versed. They had interesting perspectives. So we kept talking about points of view and we got to hear their points of view, and it was pretty amazing.”
Student Natalie Fullerman described the book club as a positive learning experience.
“I really enjoyed the book club and the chance to get to know the seniors,” said student Natalie Fullerman. “The discussion added another dimension to my interpretation of the book as the participants detailed stories for us of people they knew who grew up during World War II and their own experiences visiting Germany. Our talk led me to appreciate new angles of the characters and their backgrounds, and I hope that this is not the last time for “seniors and seniors” book club.”
Another student, Reese Schneider, echoed Fullerman’s sentiment and asked when they can do a book club with the group again.
“This was a great experience to connect with older generations,” added Schneider. “I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations that the book took us to, to find common ground and understand different and new views.”
Student Caleigh Dawson likewise expressed interest in getting together again soon for another book club.
“I thought the book club was a wonderful experience,” added Dawson. “It was so neat to hear the senior citizens’ ideas and realize we had similar thoughts and opinions on the book. I think it’s important that we spend time with people older than us to learn from them and listen to their wisdom.”
