Intergenerational Discussions Surrounding Health, Community, & Life                           

On March 15th, Sanna and Matisyn met with Ms. Jessie Howard from the West Philadelphia Senior Community Center. Ms. Jessie Howard is 81 years old and she has been a long time resident in Philadelphia for 79 yers. She grew up in North Philadelphia and experienced schooling in both the catholic and public school environment. She has always been focused on success and she began studying social work but ended up taking a position in the Philadelphia Banking system, doing check processing, data entry, and she retired from The Federal Reserve Bank.

Ms. Jessie enjoys cooking and her favorite food is cinnamon raisin oatmeal which she has every morning and she often enjoys delicious dinners combinations with baked chicken, salmon and oxtail with vegetables such as string beans and cabbage. Ms. Jessie once suffered from serious health and weight management issues so she had to exercise and loose weight. Because of these positive changes and her participation in Ms. Lynns healthy cooking class she has reached optimal health goals.

Ms. Jessie, leans heavily into her faith to find peace, and spends a lot of time participating in church activities and sometimes she finds peace right at home in the quiet. Ms. Jessie also loves going on trips with the Senior Center. She is grateful to be living and loves inspiring her 19 grandchildren to succeed, and stick to their goals.

Take away message: “Stay in School. Study. Whatever your dreams are stick with it, dreams do come true”

Stay Tuned-Full interview video coming soon!

~Emilia Onuonga, University of Pennsylvania ’23