SAYREVILLE — Fifth-graders at Samsel Upper Elementary School learned that technology has drastically changed over the years.
While the children were immersed in their smartphones and tablets, senior citizens in Sayreville literally brought a taste of what technology used to be like.
Pauline Mitsock, 88, dusted off her black rotary phone that she had stored in her basement and brought it in for the school’s annual “Connecting with the Past” program. The seniors and students met up twice this past school year.
“The expressions on the kids’ faces are priceless,” Mitsock said, sharing with the students the idea of “party lines,” or how if one would pick up the phone, an operator would be on the other end.
“If you wanted a private line, it was more expensive than the shared party lines.”
Fifth-graders Alyse Lerner and Sriya Kanthaswamy said it was hard to imagine the use of a rotary phone and the idea of party lines in this day and age. Alyse noted that the rotary phone was rather heavy.
Alyse and Sriya were teamed up with senior Bernadine Lajewski. Sriya said she found it interesting that when Lajewski attended school, she was one of 72 children in a classroom.
“No one ever got individual attention,” she said.
The program was created by media specialist Marie Desmond a few years ago and organized this year by Desmond, along with language arts teacher Karen Rubio, science/math/social studies teacher Melissa Perez and in-study support teacher Melissa Brown.
“We work as a team, and the 50-or-so fifth-grade students are paired up with the 20-or-so seniors who have a lot of knowledge about Sayreville, some living here all their lives,” Desmond said.
Earlier in the school year, the seniors shared what it was like growing up during their time. The students listened, took notes and asked questions. On June 17, when the seniors and students met up again, the students presented a report and photos they put together of their earlier meeting.
“There were two to three students per senior, and in class they drafted and typed their report with Google documents,” Desmond said.
Jean Samuel was a teacher for 39 years before she retired in 2009. Samuel started her career teaching math, science and social studies in the fifth-grade at Samsel Upper Elementary.
“This is my first time participating in the program, and I had a wonderful time,” she said, adding that the essay was wonderful.
Edward Strek, 74, said “Connecting with the Past” is a tremendous program.
“It gets the children to see what it was like in the olden days,” the born-and-bred Sayreville resident said.
“The kids are great. They are curious what life was like.”
Strek served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army with the 82nd Airborne Division from 1963 to 1965. After serving in the military, he worked as a mechanic.
For more information, visit samsel.sayrevillek12.net.