UWO Elder Engagement Club: Helping students and seniors find connection at the same table

Recent UW-Oshkosh graduate Ella Diny, left, and Ellie Buckley, a resident of Evergreen Retirement Community of Oshkosh, show off works of art they each created and displayed in a joint art show.

At a dinner table inside Evergreen Retirement Community, the conversation moved from prom dates to college curfews, from music and childhood memories to the way life has changed across generations.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh students listened as Evergreen residents shared what college was like in the 1950s and 1960s. Residents asked students about school, relationships, social media and what it feels like to be young today.

There was laughter. There were questions. There were stories that could only come from people sitting down together with time to listen.

For UW-Oshkosh senior Ella Diny, that was the whole point.

Diny, an Oshkosh resident who recently graduated with a human services leadership degree, created the Elder Engagement Club during her senior year to bring UW-Oshkosh students and local seniors together. What started as an idea inspired by her work at Evergreen has grown into an official student organization built around connection, conversation and care.

"This past year, I followed a passion of mine and created an official student organization here on campus called the Elder Engagement Club," Diny said. "The goal was creating opportunities for UW-Oshkosh students to connect with local seniors."

It started with a simple question

The idea began while Diny was working as a server at GardenSide, a fine dining restaurant inside Evergreen Retirement Community.

Again and again, residents asked her the same kinds of questions.

Was she a student? What was she studying? What was college like? What did she hope to do next?

Many of Diny's coworkers were also high school and college students, and she noticed how naturally the older residents took interest in their lives. The conversations were small at first, but they stayed with her.

Later, during a class assignment, Diny began shaping those observations into an idea. A professor encouraged her to keep going.

Diny saw a chance to create something more intentional. She wanted to bring together two groups of people who live in the same community, but do not always have many opportunities to know one another: college students and seniors.

"It took a long time to actually create it," Diny said. "It was a lot of work, finding and recruiting people to even start the club."

Around the table, generations found common ground

The Elder Engagement Club began with smaller student and senior meals before growing into dinner gatherings at Evergreen.

There, residents talked about dressing up for class, dorm rules and the social changes they lived through. Students shared what school and student life look like now.

For Diny, those moments are the heart of the club. At Evergreen, she said, every person has a story.

The residents gathered around the table included former educators, an airline pilot, a lawyer, a former administrative judge and a woman who once worked with Henry Kissinger (National Security Advisor and Secretary of State under presidents Nixon and Ford).

"There are just so many cool professions over here," Diny said.

For the residents, the dinners offer a meaningful connection to young people and a chance to stay close to a stage of life many remember well.

"We love having the young people here," Evergreen resident Carol Jones said. "Most of us are grandmothers. You represent that part of our life that we are intently interested in."

Evergreen resident Joan Anthony said the conversations are a reminder of how much students are carrying as they work toward their futures.

"What you're doing is so important," Anthony said. "You're going through a lot because you're in school. Times are difficult, but it's also the most exciting time of life."

The dinners also give students something valuable: perspective.

Evergreen resident Jayne Wippert said she hopes students leave knowing how much is possible for them.

"That's why we love to meet with young people," Wippert said. "Because we want you to know, the possibilities for young women nowadays are unlimited."

For Diny, the exchange is not about students volunteering. It is about people meeting each other as people, listening closely and realizing how much they have to offer one another.

A gallery of shared stories

The dinner gatherings were not the only way Diny helped bring UW-Oshkosh students and Evergreen residents together.

This spring, she helped create an art show at Evergreen that featured work from both UW-Oshkosh students and residents of the retirement community.

For Diny, the art show felt like another way to close the gap between generations-with students and residents connected through creativity, memory and pride in what they had made.

To bring the show together, Diny worked with UW-Oshkosh gallery board director Leslie Walfish, Evergreen's art committee, life enrichment staff and Evergreen's culinary team.

The exhibit gave residents a chance to share pieces that might not otherwise be seen outside their community. It also gave UW-Oshkosh students the chance to display their work alongside artists with decades of life experience and stories behind them.

"They have so many cool pieces," Diny said. "They're not entering art shows necessarily, so it's cool for them to be able to show off their pieces and have their names nice and big on it."

For Diny, that recognition mattered.

Finding her place in senior care

Diny's connection to older adults did not begin with the club, and it will not end with graduation.

She has spent years working in senior care, including time as a certified nursing assistant, a caregiver at Evergreen and a full time role at ShareHaven, Evergreen's memory care community.

That work helped shape the way she thinks about care, leadership and the kind of places older adults deserve.

"As a CNA for the past six years, all the time I would just think to myself, if I was running a place, I'd do this differently," Diny said. "I changed my major and I'm running with this now."

At UW-Oshkosh, Diny found a major that matched what she had already been learning through her work: that caring for people is not only about meeting needs. It is about listening, building trust and creating places where people feel known.

Now, with a degree in human services leadership, Diny hopes to continue working in senior care. She is especially interested in Evergreen's future growth, including its planned Fox Crossing location.

What Ella built

By the end of her senior year, Diny had done more than start a student organization.

She had built a bridge.

Through the Elder Engagement Club, she gave students and seniors a reason to sit together, ask questions and share parts of their lives that might otherwise stay separate.

She created dinners where residents could talk about the lives they had lived and students could talk about the lives they are building. She helped create an art show where work from UW-Oshkosh students and Evergreen residents could hang side by side.

And she did it because she noticed something simple: there was curiosity between generations. There was warmth. There was a desire to connect.

What began with residents asking a student server about college became a club, a table full of stories and a reminder that meaningful community often starts with someone willing to make the introduction.

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