In her free time, Fremont high school student Aashi Gupta can be found at a local senior center, where she sits down with its elderly visitors, her laptop propped open and ready to record their conversations.
The rising junior at Mission San Jose High School started Shared Stories, a community project where she interviews seniors about their life experiences and turns their memories into keepsake books. Gupta began this project two years ago, when her relationship with her grandparents made her think about the stories and life advice that seniors have to offer.
“I’ve always been really close to my grandparents,” she said. “When I was little, they used to tell me stories about how they immigrated to the United States, raised their family and had to adjust by learning a new language.”
Gupta shared that now that her grandparents are older, they struggle with loneliness. “It’s hard to make friends as seniors, especially when you come from a different country,” she said. Her project also serves as a way for local seniors to connect with their friends and family—after each keepsake book is finished, Gupta distributes it at the senior center and reads it aloud to visitors.
“I just thought about how these older generations have these amazing stories, but no one gets to hear them,” she said.
Since the project began, Shared Stories has seen over 120 interviews at senior centers in Fremont, Newark, Milpitas and Union City. Gupta’s process starts with attending an event at a local center, setting up a table and inviting people over to speak to her. She then compiles photos to include in the printed books.
Through her project, Gupta has heard stories from a variety of different people. “My favorite senior that I’ve talked to was a woman at the Fremont senior center who told me about her early life in India,” said Gupta. “She was born in India and dealt with polio from a young age, living in an area where healthcare was not accessible.” She added that the woman told her about her challenges growing up.
“After moving to America, she was able to get access to more support, and now she’s giving back to her community by volunteering at food drives. The way she talked about her experiences was just so positive.”
Recently, Gupta has started to record her interviews—going forward, she plans to turn them into podcast episodes to publish as a way to ensure that the stories reach a wider audience beyond the senior center. She also hopes to get more young people involved in her project.
“I’m trying to get some of my younger family members and friends to start this in their own communities—I have a cousin in New Jersey who is interested in starting her own chapter.”
Gupta believes that young people have a lot to learn when they interact with elders. “Once you start talking to them, it’s really cool to see how they can open up. They’ve lived so much longer than us and have valuable experiences you can learn from—just by sitting down and having a 10-minute conversation.”
Shared Stories
shared-stories.org
