�Get Out and Meet Other People�

Social work class hosts first senior citizen speed companionship event

Connecting with others � it�s one of the greatest joys of being human.

The first senior citizen speed companionship event held in Cape Girardeau at Southeast Missouri State University�s River Campus was designed around this principle. Joy was apparent from the din of laughter and talking coming from participants nodding their heads in affirmation, happy to be meeting each other and connecting over shared interests, humor and life circumstances.

The event was aimed at providing a place for senior citizens interested in friendship and/or romance to connect with others in the Southeast Missouri region. There were three men and 17 women in attendance.

Margaret Babera meets Earl James during a senior citizen speed dating event at the River Campus on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, in Cape Girardeau.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

It worked like this: participants were given five minutes to chat with another participant before the person on the inside of the circle was asked to switch to the next table on their right. As they moved to the next table, the participants marked on their scorecard if they would be interested in seeing the person they�d just spoken with again. If both participants responded positively, the person�s contact information was mailed to the other participant after the event.

Rita Weidner of Jackson enjoyed being a part of the afternoon.

�I came with an open mind � well, I�m an open-minded person anyway. I had a ball, talking with the ladies as well as the men.�

The speed companionship event was hosted by Dr. Dana Branson, assistant professor for Southeast�s Department of Social Work, and the students in her Human Development in the Social Environment class. The semester-long class, which comes after a semester-long course examining human development from birth through young adulthood, focuses on topics related to human development from adulthood through death.

The idea to hold a speed companionship event in Cape Girardeau began when Branson viewed a documentary called �The Age of Love,� directed by Steve Llring. The film follows people 70 years old or older who are interested in finding companionship and getting back into the world of dating. Llring recommends holding a community screening of the documentary and a subsequent senior citizen speed dating event.

So after viewing the film, that�s what Branson decided to have her students do. The screening of the documentary took place March 20 at the John and Betty Glenn Convocation Center at Southeast�s River Campus, with the speed companionship event following, on April 10. Speed companionship was funded by an internal grant through the University and open to single people aged 65 or older.

Branson is using the experiential learning aspects of the human development course as an opportunity to research her students� perceptions of ageism, or discriminating against people because of their age. Many of the students enrolled in the course are young adults; through classroom learning paired with mediated interactions with older adults, Dr. Branson hopes to better understand how young people perceive and relate to older people.

�Whether you�re a hot 21-year-old or 75 years old � everybody is interested in love and romance,� Branson says. She hopes through the experiences the course�s curriculum provides, her students will better understand this, and perhaps their stereotypes rooted in ageism will change.

Many of the students in the class have developed a deeper understanding of how to relate to older people throughout the semester.

�It�s made me more aware and helped me to keep in mind when I�m having a conversation with an older person that they�re exactly like we are, they just come from a different generation,� says Southeast student Kailey Beguin. �When you see someone who�s not the same age as you, it�s easy to think they haven�t gone through the same experiences you have. But they have the same emotions. This class has helped me to be able to relate to them on the same level.�

Relating to others spans across generations, the students learned during the speed companionship event. Margaret Baber of Cape Girardeau enjoyed participating in the event put on by the students, speaking of the importance of building a community.

�You have to force yourself to get out and meet other people, and include other people,� she says. �It�s important to include others, to get out and go.�