Gerontology Personal Statement

The lifespan interview was conducted 70 years of age married black female whom I will be calling Mrs. D. The purpose was to document the subject’s lifespan history with recollections of important or significant events in her development. Mrs. D is a native of McIntosh, Alabama. She was born to a Mr. and Mrs. Hiram P. Reed Sr. on the 13th of December in 1967 in McIntosh Alabama. She has five siblings 4 brothers and two sisters. She has 6 children three boys and three girls with one son being descent. This interview was conducted on a live face-to-face webcam so that Mrs. D would feel much more comfortable.

Today I spoke with a very outspoken neighbor of mine who was kind enough to participate in my assessment project. Iris L. is her name and she was born in March of 1940, which makes her 76 years old. She has lived in the small town of Archer Lodge, NC since she was born. She has been widowed for over 35 years and has one son who also lives five minutes away. She remains very active within the community but spends a majority of her time with her two grandchildren, ages 9 and 11. She has three sisters who all live within a few minutes of her home. She is active in her church and has lots of community friends that she assist in taking to appointments and says she also enjoys “feeding the shut-ins”. She is retired from a manufacturing job of 35 years but returned to work part-time at Dollar General approximately 8 years ago. She told me “if you don’t keep busy and active, you will go downhill quickly when you retire”.

With great willingness, I am applying for the position of Senior Program Development Specialist with the Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative. My longtime friend, Madelyn Keck, learned of the position and suggested I apply. I am seeking both a change and a challenge and this opportunity provides both. My education, skill-set, and experience make me an excellent candidate for this vacancy.

After spending an afternoon interviewing my elderly father-in-law, I gained insight into how he perceives the aging process and the impact on the quality of his life. First, and foremost he viewed aging in a very positive and healthy manner. He believes that a positive attitude assists in accepting physical and psychosocial changes and enjoyed the fact that he and his wife are both physically fit and cognitively alert. He felt confident that advances made in health care and the quality of their lives would continue to be empowering. He enjoys the benefits of being a senior citizen including discounted travel, free education, and other incentives marketed towards seniors. He expressed a sense of well-being with respect to the numerous

There is always conflict in a story. Without a villain, there is no reason for a character to change or develop. Some examples of villains are Darth Vader from Star Wars, Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, and The Joker. These are commonly known villains from movies and books. They play an important role in the plot, each with unique stories and actions.

Aging is a universal phenomenon and humans are no exception. Gerontology deals with the psychological, social and biological aspects of aging process. A recent study shows that people aged 85 years and older are expected to augment from 5.3 million people to 21 million as the world reach 2050. In today’s world Gerontology has an enormous role to play so that the senior citizens could be analyzed and their needs may be addressed with compassion and empathy.

The last four years of school at University of Nebraska Lincoln have given me a solid foundation of everything academic, including learning theories, concepts, and ideas regarding the best approach to take when it comes to working with children, youth and families. Being a non-traditional student has given me the rare opportunity to integrate knowledge learned in the classroom with previous work experience, which has benefited me professionally while working with the elderly at my internship; adult day services program and will go on to benefit me in my chosen career. Courses in child, youth, and family studies started me down a particular path career wise, but I soon took a detour once I attended my first Gerontology class; Intro to Gerontology, at which point I found myself traveling down a new career path, one where I would end up working with the elderly. All the courses that I have taken have impacted how I think, my beliefs, and values both as a professional, as well as personally, but a few of these courses have had more of a bearing on my professional philosophy when it comes to how I will approach, help and support my clients, these courses include child, youth & family, gerontology, and

Mrs. Maxine represents my archetypal view of the healthy "seasoned citizen." Maxine is a Caucasian female born in rural, Mullens, West Virginia in 1926. She is the only child of a Southern Baptist, "middle class" family. Joseph Hammond, her father, was a farmer. Her mother, Ruby, was a "full-time parent" and prided herself on "running the house." Maxine explained that farmers wife's were routinely responsible for the day-to-day operations of the household. Her Southern Baptist faith was complements of her parents and minister grandfather.

After spending an afternoon interviewing my elderly father-in-law, I gained insight into how he perceives the aging process and the impact on the quality of his life. First, and foremost he viewed aging in a very positive and healthy manner. He believes that a positive attitude assists in accepting physical and psychosocial changes and enjoyed the fact that he and his wife are both physically fit and cognitively alert. He felt confident that advances made in health care and the quality of their lives would continue to be empowering. He enjoys the benefits of being a senior citizen including discounted travel, free education, and other incentives marketed towards seniors. He expressed a sense of well-being with respect to the numerous

I enjoyed Sarah-Jayne Blakemore video “The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain.” What was interesting to me was how the girl’s grey matter volume in the peak of the prefrontal cortex of the brain happens earlier than the boys. The brain is an amazing organ. I found it to be funny, yet interesting when Michael missed a goal how he and the fans all put their hands on their head to express their disbelief or that oh my goodness moment if you will. And when you take a look at the other team fans everyone hands is up; expressing happiness that the goal was missed. As the video continues Ms. Blakemore goes on to talk about the limbic system. The limbic system is fascinating. As it depicts how one is feeling. The limbic system also plays a

Two learners have been selected in St. Mary’s East Primary School to be the central focus of analysis within the study. The participants, *Dylan and *Cain, are two Caucasian males within an 17 student mixed gender inclusion kindergarten classroom. To gather data that will benefit all learning styles within the classroom, *Dylan was chosen as he is classified as gifted, and *Cain because he is currently on an individualized education program (IEP). The results from a pre-test and an end of unit number formation test as well as informal observations, visual representations on whiteboards, and discussions from both focus learners, will be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of assessments for improved knowledge of number formation between

We all are currently aging. We live in an again paradox. But, it is what we choose to do with our time while we have it that counts the most. As a young adult, and before this class I was very unaware of the importance of planning your retirement as early as possible. There are many things that go into planning for a successful retirement. Such as, but not limited to: Where will I choose to live? What will I do to stay mentally active? Or even, when will I choose to retire. In this paper, I will go over a plethora of aspects for my personal plan for aging.

“The best classroom is at the feet of an elderly person,” said by a famous American radio and television writer, Andy Rooney. Elderly has so much to teach the younger generation because they have been through an array of events in life that are worth sharing and knowing. The purpose of the study is to understand the experience of aging and late adulthood by using case study method through interview and informal interaction with an older adult. Given the circumstance of long distance, Skype is used to conduct the interview and informal interaction. Mary, is a vibrant and healthy Chinese elderly woman who turned 75 last summer. She is an atheist who has lived in Hong Kong for her entire life and would be classified as middle class lifestyle. She is widowed and lives alone but she has four children and eight grandchildren. Since she is active, healthy and independent, the “young-old” would be the best term to describe Mary according to gerontologists (Berger, 2014, p.675).

Although we all become old someday, how many people are aware of what are normal or abnormal processes of aging? It is very important for us as nursing students to learn about them in order to take care of older adults. As a part of geriatric clinical, I had an opportunity to interview one of the residents at the Continuing Care Center.

Humanity has come a long way as we evolve and adapt to the changing environment. Through the years, we have managed to overcome several limitations, which in the past were nothing more than dreams. We succeeded in landing on the moon and communicating over long distance, yet there are still some boundaries we have yet to cross despite our best effort. Aging is an inevitable process of nature. While we cannot stop the ticking clock in our body, we have made it possible for aging to be delayed and relieved to a great extent through advance technology and modern governance. High-tech equipments and medications are available for the treatments of more illnesses as our understanding of medicine improves and governments nowadays are doing