It’s been a great break for two months, allowing the Legacy Project team to concentrate on our new project, in which we’re gathering the advice for love, committed relationships, and marriage from the oldest (and wisest) Americans. We’ll be back to posting new elder wisdom regularly (including hot-off-the-presses lessons from the new Marriage Advice Project). We hope you missed us, and we’re glad to be back!

And what better way to start up again than to introduce you to our two fantastic summer undergraduate interns who have been part of a very innovative program developed by our partner Risa Breckman in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Risa is director of the New York City Elder Abuse Center, which addresses many issues related to mistreatment of older people.

The interns spend time both learning about older people in difficult situations, including elder abuse and neglect. But they balance out that challenging work with Legacy Project interviews, seeking gems of elder wisdom about living a happy and fulfilling life. This unique combination of experiences provides a tremendous background on both the possibilities and the difficulties of aging.

We’ll be posting their guest blogs on elder wisdom soon. But first, join us in welcoming these budding gerontologists!

Laura Museau:
Laura Museau is a rising Junior at Cornell University majoring in Human Development on a pre-medical track. During her sophomore year at Cornell while taking a class on adulthood and aging Laura realized that she was largely unaware of matters concerning older people, especially elder abuse and neglect. It is for this reason she chose to apply to the Risk and Resiliency Internship Project (RRIP). As an intern with the RRIP, she is looking forward to learning how different agencies and systems in New York City are responding to elder abuse. Laura is also excited to hear the wisdom elders have to share by conducting interviews with them through the Legacy Project. She hopes to leave this summer with a newfound appreciation for the elderly and a plan to help others on Cornell’s campus open their eyes to the value of older adults and the unique challenges they face. She believes that the elderly are undervalued in our society, but that raising awareness through education can prevent issues such as elder abuse from slipping under the radar.

Austin Lee:
Austin Lee is rising senior in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University. He is double majoring in Sociology and Biology & Society and minoring in Gerontology. Austin’s interest in the elderly was sparked when he joined the Cornell Elderly Partnership (CEP) as a freshman and began regularly volunteering and working with older adults within the Ithaca community. As one of the two students working with the Risk and Resiliency Project Internship for the summer of 2013, Austin hopes to learn more about the nuances of elder abuse. He is excited by the opportunity to interact with professionals and organizations within the field of aging and elder abuse and work alongside them. The Risk and Resiliency Project’s partnership with the Legacy Project is an appealing aspect of the internship because it provides a unique chance to interact with older adults in a research setting that is focused on learning from their experiences in life. Gerontology has become a true passion for Austin, and he plans to pursue a career in the field. With this in mind, he is looking forward to taking a more active role in advocating against ageism and elder abuse through all that he learns this summer.

Stay tuned for their guest blogs!