More than 15 teen members of the Edmonds Youth Commission (EYC) chatted with eight seniors from Edmonds at the first Youth + Senior Speed Talking event at the Edmonds Waterfront Center (EWC) Tuesday night. Similar to speed business networking, each teen conversed with a senior for about six minutes at a table before rotating to the next table, sharing their experiences with school and education, hobbies, family and work.

The purpose of the first-ever event was to bridge cultural and communication gaps between generations, said Michelle Neu, the waterfront center’s director of social, recreation and education programming

City of Edmonds Youth Commission Coordinator Casey Colley and Deputy Parks Director Shannon Burley approached Neu with the idea last fall, and Neu agreed to host the event.

“Our mission is to connect and strengthen the community at the EWC,” she said. “I was more than happy to collaborate with the City Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Edmonds Youth Commission.”

Youth Commission member Joanna Na, a senior at Edmonds-Woodway High School, suggested the idea of having an intergenerational conversation after working at a local dementia care center last summer.

“I was doing desk work and I was also helping them with activities,” she said. “I realized that a lot of dementia patients are coming to the center to get help by themselves. They’re not getting any help from their family. And they looked very lonely. So I was like, ‘What if we help them? Seniors in Edmonds?’ That was my initial idea.”

Na also has a maternal grandmother with mild dementia, which motivated her to care for others with such conditions. With a little guidance from her father, Na began to work at a dementia center near her grandmother’s home.

“By working there, I saw a lot of dementia patients who were struggling with everything,” she said. “They couldn’t go to the bathroom by themselves, they couldn’t call their daughters and sons. That’s why I do this.”

Charles Morgan, an Edmonds-Woodway High junior, serves as the commission’s communications manager, overseeing its Instagram account and organizing events. He said that he enjoyed talking to one of the seniors, who told him about how the U.S. government responds to “supernatural events,” such as UFOs and Bigfoot. Morgan also expressed admiration for another attendee, Peter Reckendorf of Lynnwood, who is part of Little People of America Puget Sound Chapter. In 2019, Reckendorf proposed a statewide ban of dwarf tossing.

“[Peter] is on the advocacy board for little people across America, specifically Washington,” Morgan said. “His take on how to live your life was very inspiring to me.”

Former Edmonds City Councilmember Diane Buckshnis, who served as the council’s youth commission liaison last year, also attended the event. Buckshnis said she was happy to see the increased number of youth attendees when compared to previous senior-student events. “It’s a good idea to have more students to talk to older people, making sure that they can educate us, and we can educate them,” she said.

Buckshnis also mentioned that the waterfront center  promotes other intergenerational events, such as the Youth Summit and the Intergenerational Trivia Night that started in 2018. “I bet you they will continue to do this event in the future,” she added. “If you notice, all the tables were full.”

Morgan supported the idea of future  intergenerational events. “There’s so much ‘us vs. them’ mentality, like ‘Boomers are so in the past, there’s no way we can relate to them,’ or ‘The new generations don’t get it. They’re lazy and didn’t go through the things we did,’” he said. “I feel like there’s more connection there that we give each other credit (for). I feel like we have more in common and more to discuss than what the media portrays.”

— Story and photos by Nick Ng