By Leigh Ann Hubbard

When I was a college student, during Alumni Weekend, all these smiling, gray-haired people would come in.

I envied them.

I couldn’t wait to be in their shoes.

Somebody to Listen

They seemed light. I was heavy — weighed down with stress. They strolled about campus in joyous groups, gazing up at the old and new infrastructure, smiling, remembering, while I looked forward to an all-night study spree.

What if I’d been able to talk to one of them? They’d been through what I was experiencing. What would they have said?

Check out this video from Arizona State University:

Mirabella at ASU, a CCRC, is on campus and integrated with the university in all sorts of ways. Residents can attend classes and mentor students. But this idea here is extra special.

For most students, college isn’t Animal House. Some find it lonely; some are anxious (like I was). Many have extreme economic stressors; some are dealing with issues they don’t even talk about with their friends.

Perspective

When I looked at the older alumni, I longed to be done with college. For some reason, I had it in my head that my grades would determine my life. I was at Emory University, a heavily premed school — lots of smart kids. Freshman year, I failed a test for the first time ever.

Fortunately, I had wonderful parents who talked sense into me. A lot of kids don’t.

If you went to college: What if a senior living community in your town had done something like this? Would it have been comforting? Eye-opening?

Universities Want This — Do Your Residents?

In late 2024, Emory University, in fact, introduced “well-being coaching” for students. (Hat tip to Tierra Wilson, a branding consultant for coaches, who wrote about this on LinkedIn.) Mental health is on every college administrator’s radar; it’s a big topic in academia, because it’s a big problem. Suicide is a leading cause of death for college students.

Here are some stats from The Healthy Minds Study, 2023 – 2024 (PDF):

  • More than three in 10 college students experienced anxiety over the previous two weeks.
  • Almost four in 10 experienced depression over the previous two weeks.
  • Almost seven in 10 felt isolated from others at least some of the time.

Would some of your residents like to chat with younger people who need a listening ear? Could there be a way to make that happen? Perhaps they could hang out in the student union — the same place happy alumni saunter.

They could change lives — maybe even save some.