It’s hard to believe how fast this summer has flown by and how soon FYSOP will begin.  I am BEYOND EXCITED for FYSOP to begin.  I can’t wait for the energy to fill the room during Opening Ceremonies, for freshmen to be shocked by their issue areas on Education Day, and to hear all the inspiring stories from site Wednesday through Friday.  I can’t wait for Ride the Pony to take over Marsh Plaza, for cheer offs to inappropriately occur in the Dining Hall, for endless games of mafia to commence.  It’s actually impossible for me to pick just one thing I’m most excited for in FYSOP because I love every single piece of it with all my heart.  If I had to choose two, they’d be:

THE MUSEUM: On Education Day of FYSOP, Shoshie Aborn (Hunger Coordinator) and I will be creating a visual representation of each issue area in the Ziskind Lounge of the GSU.  There are exhibits to display many shocking statistics, stories, and pictures to make each issue area come to life.  The Museum was my favorite part of Education Day my freshman year, so it’s a dream come true to be able to design it for all of you to enjoy this year!

JOAN GREEN’S DANCE WORKSHOP: On Education Day, the Elders issue area will participate in adance workshop designed for people of all ages led by dance professional, Joan Green.  Joan is a FYSOP pro, and we are so excited to host her workshop again this year.  After an emotional day, it’s going to be so much fun to get moving and end the day on such a high point!

I really am excited for every moment of FYSOP and absolutely can’t wait to meet all of you!

Loads of FYlove,

Bridget

I can’t believe how quickly this summer has passed but I’m so excited to see FYSOP actually happen after working on it all summer.  I’ve had an amazing time getting to know the Elders issue area better, meeting our site contacts, talk to our Ed Day speakers, and getting to know our staff and volunteers.

I have to say I’m most excited to hear the stories that the volunteers and staff bring back from site.  As much as I’ve loved being a coordinator, the only downside is that we only get to go on site during one of the days of FYSOP.  Since I don’t get to participate in the service portion of FYSOP as much as the volunteers and staff, I’m excited to hear all their stories at the end of each day.

Bridget and I visited every single one of our FYSOP sites, and our site contacts have great plans for you guys.  I wish that I could go to site with every group every day, but you guys will just have to let us know how it goes!

I’m also really excited about Ed Day.  Bridget and I have been working so hard to organize the whole day for you guys, and it’s definitely going to prepare you guys to go on site, but it’s also going to be really fun!!!  I’ve been specifically in charge of the movie montage, so I’m really excited for everyone to see that because I’ve had such a great time making it!

Can’t wait to see you guys August 29th!

FYLove,

Claire

Good times at River Bay Club!

In honor of 20 days left til FYSOP, we have posted a TON of information about Elders.  We’ve been researching so much this summer about different Elders topics, everything from Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging to various Fusion aspects of FYSOP.  All this info should give you a sneak peak into what we’ve got planned for Education Day with our speakers and activities.  It will also supplement the gorgeous Ed Packet you will be receiving when you arrive at FYSOP.  So check it out! We’ve got some inspiring videos and adorable pictures; all of which will help you better prepare for the BEST ISSUE AREA EVER.

Can’t wait to meet all of you SO soon. Also, enjoy this gem of a photo and #respectyourelders

FYlovin’,

Claire & Bridget

So FYSOP is officially 20 days away! We have had such a good time getting to talk to you guys over the last two weeks. Your enthusiasm has us even more excited for the beginning of FYSOP.

We gave you guys an introduction to River Bay a few weeks ago, but we wanted to give you guys a little more info about some of our other sites.

Cafe Emmanuel is a weekly lunch program for LGBT seniors in the Greater Boston area. It was founded after members of the elder services sector in Boston realized that LGBT elders were not reaching out to mainstream elder service organizations because of a history of discrimination. LGBT elders are more likely to be childless, and may have been alienated from other family members because of their sexual orientation. Therefore, it is especially important to ensure that LGBT elders have a place to go to feel a sense of community. Cafe Emmanuel serves this need, drawing participants from all over the Boston area and as far away as New Hampshire.

Check out this It Gets Better video from the participants in the lunch program, which was produced in response to the series of suicides by LGBT young people in the last year.

Little Sisters of the Poor-Jeanne Jugan Residence provides assisted living and skilled nursing care to low income elders. The Sisters provide a high standard of care on a very minimal budget and rely heavily on the generosity of the community to continue their programs. We are very excited to participate in their activities during our days of service this year! You can find more information about their programs here.

Rogerson Communities provides affordable housing for elders and adults with disabilities at 14 locations throughout the Boston area. They also have adult day programs and a really unique fitness program called Fitness First. We will be working at the Adult Day Health Program in Roslindale. Adult day programs provide nonresidential care to individuals who need daytime supervision or medical assistance, allowing their primary caretakers to work during the day and take care of their own needs.

And that’s only a few of our awesome sites for the Elders issue area this year! We’ve had an amazing time visiting all of our sites, and we can’t wait to hear about your experiences at all of them!

FYLove,
Claire and Bridget

The most exciting part of today has been getting to start calling all of our volunteers for FYSOP 22! Now that we’ve gotten to talk to you guys and hear your enthusiasm, we’re even more excited about FYSOP! (if that was even possible…)

We do need your help with something though. During our Education Day, we are hoping to get to share some of our favorite Elders-related movies with you guys. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time to watch them all, so we want to know which ones you guys are the most interested in.

Check out these trailers and then let us know which one you’re most excited about. We’ll take your input into account when we’re planning our Education Day!

FYLove,
Claire and Bridget

Okay, first years, there was your first FYSOP preview cheer. Learn to embrace the cheers, love them, sing them in your sleep.  And you may be wondering about our fabulous issue area… ELDERS.  We’ve got a lot of exciting things in store for Elders this year with plenty of sites booked and lots of headway on our research.

We’ve been researching Alzheimer’s disease… Did you know, it’s the sixth leading cause of death, and the [[only one of the top ten that's incurable, can't be stopped, or even slowed down]]?!  We’ve also been checking out some ways to grow old in style and good health. (Sneak preview: http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com/).

And our most exciting plan for this awesome issue area is all the FUSION (definition: the ways in which different FYSOP issue areas overlap, intertwine, and share common threads) we have in store.   Since everyone will get old eventually, the Elders issue area affects EVERYONE and has lots of overlap with other issues in our community.  Between LGBT elders being forced back into the closet, the rising cost of caring for the elderly, and more and more cases of elder abuse, FUSION is all over the place.  We plan to explore fusion options between Gender Focus, Homelessness & Housing, Human Rights, and Hunger, so get excited.  We’ll be addressing each of our subtopics on Education Day [[Tuesday, August 30^th]] and on site [[Wednesday, August 31^st-Friday, September 2^nd]].

And finally, Bridget snapped this precious pic of some adorable Elders strolling through BU’s campus.

Just goes to show that Elders are everywhere, even on college campuses.  There’s no need to wait until FYSOP to start getting involved with the Elders in your own community!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, hit us up at fysopelders22@gmail.com, call the CSC 617-353-4710, or TWEET AT US @bridgebur or @cschenkel80. #respectyourelders #elders22