TNHG: 2025: Silver Award Team 1 - Summer Family Day
Emily, Hailey and Queenie:
Summer Family Day - Oakmont of San Jose
2025 Silver Award Project Photo Summary - Team 1Take Action Project (TAP) Photos
Our Take Action Project addressed the issue of social isolation and loneliness among older adults, particularly in assisted-living homes. Social isolation and loneliness are serious problems that may affect older adults across the United States. In the United States, about a quarter of adults aged sixty-five and older are socially isolated and about 43 percent of adults aged sixty and older report experiencing loneliness (National Academies Press [US], 2020). These feelings can negatively affect both mental and physical health, making it especially important to create opportunities for connection, engagement, and joy among older adults in care communities.
Our target audience was senior residents in assisted-living facilities in the San Jose area who were primarily between the ages of 65 and 84, especially those who were dealing with social isolation.
The root causes of social isolation among residents in assisted-living facilities included and were not limited to less family bonding time and a diminishing sense of identity. In many families, busy schedules, work demands, and digital messaging apps reduced the amount of time that they spent together, which particularly impacted senior family members who moved from their home with one or more other family members to an assisted-living facility. As seniors transitioned into assisted-living homes, personal and cultural history became overshadowed by routine care, and age-associated memory loss also contributed to the lessening sense of identity. Furthermore, physical or mental limitations prevented them from participating in the hobbies that they used to do, which induced a feeling of longing for their past.
Our idea for our Take Action Project was to host a Family Day event at Oakmont Senior Living of San Jose. This event featured multiple activity stations for the residents and families to explore. Activities included photo booth, entertainment for music and karaoke, and memory book making. At the photo booth, they would take photos, get those photos or pre-existing photos printed, and then paste them into their memory book which would serve as a keepsake for the seniors and their families. The entertainment station boosted the overall mood of the event and provided fun ways for them to be engaged with others, particularly through music and singing.
In completing this project, I discovered that I had a passion for helping others who are vulnerable. When I saw elderly residents struggling to speak their thoughts and write, it made me feel a lot of sympathy for them and it encouraged me to continue engaging with them so that they would feel heard. After this project, I decided that I would continue to volunteer there at assisted living facilities or senior homes provided the opportunities. - Emily
During this project, I discovered that I was able to take feedback and input it into my work. Another discovery about myself was that I work best in a group, and that it is easier to come up with new ideas when I am working with more people. I also found out that I am passionate about planning out events for the cause of others and helping combat issues in the community. - Hailey
Our idea for our Take Action Project was to host a Family Day event at Oakmont Senior Living of San Jose. This event featured multiple activity stations for the residents and families to explore. Activities included photo booth, entertainment for music and karaoke, and memory book making. At the photo booth, they would take photos, get those photos or pre-existing photos printed, and then paste them into their memory book which would serve as a keepsake for the seniors and their families. The entertainment station boosted the overall mood of the event and provided fun ways for them to be engaged with others, particularly through music and singing.
In completing this project, I discovered that I had a passion for helping others who are vulnerable. When I saw elderly residents struggling to speak their thoughts and write, it made me feel a lot of sympathy for them and it encouraged me to continue engaging with them so that they would feel heard. After this project, I decided that I would continue to volunteer there at assisted living facilities or senior homes provided the opportunities. - Emily
During this project, I discovered that I was able to take feedback and input it into my work. Another discovery about myself was that I work best in a group, and that it is easier to come up with new ideas when I am working with more people. I also found out that I am passionate about planning out events for the cause of others and helping combat issues in the community. - Hailey
Through this project I discovered that I enjoyed working with seniors. In the past through volunteering events I usually worked with kids around my age but during this project I interacted with more seniors and talking to them about their life and wisdom created an eye opening experience and showed me new perspectives. - Queenie
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