{"id":23949,"date":"2025-11-04T03:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23949\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T03:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T03:52:08","slug":"new-abington-heights-club-helps-older-adults-with-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/23949\/","title":{"rendered":"New Abington Heights club helps older adults with technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students in a new club at Abington Heights High School connect with older adults by helping them understand technology.<\/p>\n

The high school launched CLEO club at the start of the school year. The club \u2014 the name of which stands for \u201ccomputer literacy education outreach\u201d \u2014 is a chapter of a national initiative to connect students with older adults to help them with their technology needs.<\/p>\n

Club members work one on one or in small groups with older adults, who can ask students about a device, which they answer through demonstrations. No one in the club shares private information.<\/p>\n

Club adviser Lisa Bath was inspired to start a chapter at the school when she saw a segment on \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d about the club in November of last year. She put out a call in the spring to gauge student and community interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe instantly saw there was a need for it and \u2026 we were well received with the community organizations that we reached out to,\u201d said Bath, an English teacher.<\/p>\n

Abington Heights\u2019 CLEO club is one of two chapters in Pennsylvania \u2014 the other is at Bayard Rustin High School in Chester County. The club was started in 2021 by students at Canterbury Upper School in Fort Myers, Florida.\n<\/p>\n

The 15 to 25 regular student members focus on helping older adults with smartphones, which Bath said are a primary means of communication but are constantly changing and updating.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some people it\u2019s a very simple thing, like \u2018How do I send a picture? How do I change any area of your settings to make it easier to read your text?\u2019\u2009\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Students have assisted older adults at tutoring sessions at the Abington Community Library and the Gathering Place in downtown Clarks Summit and plan to do more sessions at both locations in the fall.<\/p>\n

For club co-presidents K\u2019lea Stanton and Liv Anhar, both seniors, the club was a natural fit. Liv has volunteered in nursing homes as her father, Wilson Anhar, has held leadership positions in various older adult facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I heard about this club, I was like, well, I have nine years of experience, so I feel like I could have a good background to help,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Abington Heights CLEO Club assist patrons at the Abington Community Library with devices. The club started at the beginning of the school year. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Abington Heights CLEO Club speak with a community member at The Gathering Place in Clarks Summit during a session at the space. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Abington Heights CLEO Club assist patrons at the Abington Community Library with devices. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n

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Members of the Abington Heights CLEO Club assist patrons at the Abington Community Library with devices. The club started at the beginning of the school year. (Submitted)\n<\/p>\n

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K\u2019lea is used to helping older adults navigate technology as she has lived with her grandparents her whole life. She felt she had firsthand experience and wanted to give back. Other club members also felt joining was a good way to help out the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI joined just because I wanted to help out and possibly learn a little more about the in-betweens of technology on your phone,\u201d said fellow senior Jocelyn Gocek.\n<\/p>\n

The students said the best part about the club is getting to know people they are assisting and seeing them understand a new technological concept. They especially like helping them connect with their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice feeling to watch them know that they can be part of their family\u2019s life,\u201d Liv said.<\/p>\n

For Jocelyn, helping people understand little things with technology is the most meaningful. She helped one woman who likes baking learn how to keep her phone screen on while she is baking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just small stuff like that, knowing that I made someone\u2019s life a little bit better, and them being happy for it is nice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Senior Vida Gonzalez likes the conversations she has with people after helping them with their devices.<\/p>\n

Bath said people who attended the sessions have been grateful for the students\u2019 help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tell the students and Judy (Detter, Abington Community Library\u2019s project coordinator) and I, \u2018This is wonderful, we\u2019re so thankful,\u2019 and they\u2019ve clearly really benefited from it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bath loves seeing the relationships form between students and the older adults they are assisting and hopes community members feel their needs are important to the young people and the school community.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, the students help with the tech; however, relationships are being forged and wisdom is shared, relationships are developing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful thing to watch the young who have the patience and the kindness to accept what wisdom and stories and life experience that the seniors have to share. Honestly, that\u2019s a very big part of what happens here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bath hopes students see that through their involvement in the club there is a segment of the community they can learn from.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just helping them, but it\u2019s also going to them and realizing that when you sit with them and you start talking with them and hearing their stories and life experiences, the students are are growing and learning,\u201d she said. \u201cThat wisdom that the older generation has to share is a treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Students in a new club at Abington Heights High School connect with older adults by helping them understand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,1993,227,201,182,139,28,178,180,179,503,181],"class_list":["post-23949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-business","tag-clarks-summit","tag-education","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-technology","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}