By LILLIAN GLAROS
Young and old came together at the College Park Aviation Museum on June 26th for an intergenerational trip organized by the City of Hyattsville’s community services department.
Overlooking the airplane displays, two generations of participants crafted and decorated paper airplanes and launched them into the air.
Around 20 older and younger people were paired together and learned more about early aviation history, like the components of the Wright brothers’ Model B, and women in aviation, like the first African-American female pilot, Bessie Coleman.
The kids got a chance to imagine flying in a 1939 Taylorcraft airplane, play flight simulations or put on costumes.
One 16-year-old Staycation camp participant said he enjoyed being able to get in the plane, as well as simulate flying it.
Another 13-year-old Staycation camp participant said he enjoyed learning about what airplanes were made of and the people who flew them.
This free visit was a part of Hyattsville’s eight-week-long Camp Staycation, where kids between the 6th and 12th grades get to attend art mental health workshops on Mondays and trips on Thursdays, according to Nia Shaw, a youth developer for the City of Hyattsville.
The camp as well as the Exploration program, another Hyattsville program providing free trips, has done several of these intergenerational visits in the past, Shaw said.
“They get to create a lot of memories,” Shaw said. “A lot of our seniors actually look at our youth kind of like their grandchildren, so they’re able to give them that wisdom and that guidance and just be another support system with them.
The pairing of the kids with seniors was intentional, Shaw said. It gives them more of a personalized experience and allows the different generations to make connections, she said.
“We enjoy being with them,” said one 13-year-old Staycation camp participant. “It gives us a perspective of how they would feel, and it could help us when we get older.”
“I like them, they’re chill,” said another 13-year-old Staycation camp participant.
Eduerdo Dudley, a 72-year-old, said the experience of being with the children makes him remember his own youth. He also said it’s important for kids to know that their elders want to engage with them.
Information on how to sign up for other city-sponsored intergenerational field trips this summer, including trips on July 20, 27, and August 3, is on the City of Hyattsville website.
