Saturday, April 27, 2024
Children have a vastly different upbringing now compared to when their parents were growing up, as the advance in technology has created an entirely new normal.
But how do we bridge this generational gap — especially when children are experiencing a completely different culture than their elders?
Rancho Brazos Community Centers (RBCC) aims to close that gap completely with a new program this semester called “We Have Questions,” where students interview a new guest each week to learn more about generational differences.
“I think all kids have lost a lot in technology,” RBCC’s Program Director Mia Ruiz said. “They’re not sitting on the porch with their grandma shelling peas anymore, and we’re losing that. It’s a lost art. We are moving toward teaching kids about animals, sustainability and growing your own food, and how better to learn that than from those who have already done it? It’s new to them, but it’s not new. It’s neat to watch them learn and be interested.”
Before the first “We Have Questions” interview, students were asked to write down individual questions to the prompt “If you could ask one question to somebody who’s lived 100 years, what would you ask them?”
Ruiz and RBCC Executive Director Sharla Caro took the best questions and wrote them down on a whiteboard. Every Wednesday during “We Have Questions,” the students come up one at a time and ask the guest one of the questions from the board.
While the guest is answering the questions, the students take the time to journal about what they’ve learned from the interview.
“Last year, (Granbury ISD Assistant Superintendent) Tammy Clark let us know that the kids needed to work on their writing, because their writing scores are lower, so we started journaling,” Ruiz explained. “And we've incorporated that into ‘We Have Questions.’”
Ruiz said with journaling, the first step to writing is getting your thoughts onto paper. A few of the students are unable to write, but Ruiz said they doodle what they hear, which proves they’re listening.
"I read the responses after the first (interview), and Miss Joanne talked about rations during the war and only being able to have one pound of meat for two weeks, so one of the students wrote, ‘One thing I learned from Miss Joanne is to not take things for granted,’ and I thought, ‘She got it. That was the point,’ and that was neat,” Ruiz said. “I think they’re just learning some great life lessons from people in their community, and that’s beautiful.”
"We really believe that there are things that we can learn from people who have walked this earth longer than us,” Caro said. “And we feel like this is an awesome opportunity for them to learn about journaling, public speaking, listening, respect and penmanship."
On Wednesday, March 6, the guest speaker for “We Have Questions” was Evelyn Guerin, who has been involved with Rancho Brazos since the beginning.
While questions like “Did you have pets,” “What is your favorite book” and “Did you go to prom,” were more lighthearted, other questions generated a more profound response from “Mrs. Evelyn.”
Guerin, who was born in 1932, told the students that she lives “by good intentions” and “being kind to people.”
“I try to be a good person so that God is really happy with me,” she said.
She went on to explain that her first job was at a “dime store” when she was 16. Although her family didn’t grow food, they did not go without since her mother worked at a grocery store.
"At that time, food was rationed,” Guerin said. “You had to have coupons to get some food like particularly meat. Fortunately, my mother wrapped meats in the grocery store; that was her job, so when the meat got to where it had to be sold and they couldn't sell it, she would bring it home, so we didn't do without. You couldn't get sugar or things without coupons, but we did very well because mom worked in the grocery store.”
Guerin also told the students she lived through World War II. She was living in California at the time, and she said she remembers military men walking across her front yard.
"What I remember most about being in the war was everybody pulled together,” she said. “There was peace among everybody at that time. There were things that we gave up, like we couldn't have butter and I remember you couldn't have pantyhose for your legs, so my mother would put makeup on her legs to make it look like she had hose on. But everybody was in such peace at that time, and they pulled together. It was a bad time, but it was a good time because everybody really loved each other.”
She said her favorite foods growing up were her “mama’s cooking,” and that her greatest accomplishment was raising five kids.
Guerin said she didn’t do much traveling, but she got the opportunity to go on two mission trips: one to Pakistan and one to Russia.
When asked why she started Rancho, Guerin explained that it all began with a tent. Her church, Acton United Methodist Church, started holding Bible classes in a tent on a parking lot in the Rancho Brazos neighborhood about 20 years ago.
The tent was later replaced with a building, which Guerin said came to fruition thanks to a brick fundraiser.
“Our church decided that we needed to build it, so you had an opportunity to buy a brick for this building,” she said. “You could buy a brick for $25 and that's how the building got built. We did not go into debt to do that.”
Guerin said the building has come “a long way” since it began, and that it has “expanded so much.”
"I just see the community getting better. I just think it's so good for the community and I am amazed at what Sharla has done and her vision,” she said.
"It's a good challenge," Caro said. "One of the things that I was telling my kids is that each week we have ‘We Have Questions,’ and we feature different people from all walks of life. But what I explained to them is that they've been here, many of them since kindergarten, and it's always been here, and it's always been this building because of their age group. One of the things that I was most excited about with you coming was that the questions they asked me, they'll actually be able to ask someone who was here at the very beginning, because that's huge.
“It's important to Mia and I both that they understand that this space was sacred, but it took a vision of you all to really say ‘We're gonna come set up a tent in a parking lot and bring Christ to a community.’”
For the future of “We Have Questions,” Ruiz said she hopes the students will be able to interview several residents across all walks of life to learn about the endless possible career choices.
“Sharla always tells them there’s life beyond the rocks, and this is what we’re talking about,” Ruiz said. “You can be a zookeeper, a police officer or a fireman — there’s lots of possibilities out there.”
“We Have Questions” takes place every Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. at the Rancho Brazos Community Centers, 3701 Sundown Trail.
For more information about the “We Have Questions” program — or any RBCC program — visit ranchobrazoscommunitycenters.org online or call 817-910-8114.
