Ben DiFranco, Meike Pfeiffer, and Stephanie Goodrich
Oak Crest Retirement Community is located twenty minutes from downtown Baltimore and offers living opportunities for retirees ranging from independent living to assisted living, to total care. When turning onto the scenic campus located beautiful in Parkville, Maryland, it becomes obvious that Oak Crest is just that, a campus. The amenities it provides are very similar to those of any university campus nationwide—residents have opportunities to participate in many clubs and organizations ranging from Bird-Watch to a book club (1).
During their time there, Loyola University students Benjamin DiFranco, Meike Pfeiffer, and Stephanie Goodrich were able to participate in the resident-based monthly Book Club and were paired up with three different residents residing in Assisted Living whom they read with every week. While in the book club, the three students read and discussed James McBride's Song Yet Sung, Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake and Mark Twain's masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Spending time with residents one-on-one gave the students the opportunity to, not only discuss literature, but time to hear the life-stories of different individuals who lived during a much different time.
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The pedestrian bridge connecting two of the several buildings located on Oak Crest's Campus. |