Elan Munoz, a Community Compact Inc. Chautauqua summer scholar, with Steve Lieber, her mentor, Thursday in the Arts Quad.
HEIDI WARREN
Contributing Writer
After only a few days on the grounds, Elan Munoz has cemented her desire to live in a walkable city.
“This place is amazing,” the Hollywood, Florida, resident said. “It’s so beautiful, and everyone is very inviting.”
Munoz won a weeklong scholarship for community college honor students through Community Compact, a local non-profit. She will attend Fort Lauderdale’s Nova Southeastern University in the fall and intends to become a dentist. Munoz also has an affinity for making pottery, hoping it will increase finger dexterity.
Besides enjoying all Chautauqua Institution has to offer during Week Five, she connected with longtime Chautauquan Steve Lieber, who is a periodontist and artist.
Networking with patrons has been the absolute best part of the Summer Scholars at Chautauqua program, Munoz said. Their wealth of knowledge and spirit of generosity are overwhelming.
“Steve is incredible and has opened my view to dental specialties,” she said. “This experience is definitely motivating!”
The dozen scholars stay at one of two rental houses, according to Leah Johnson of Lockport, New York, who volunteers as a host. Another cohort of 12 was at Chautauqua Week Three.
During a public gathering Wednesday on Bestor Plaza, Gary Miller, manager of the Quaker House, passed on some wisdom to scholar Alicia McDonough of Highland, California.
“Life is full of portals of all sizes that open up,” the Kansas City resident said. “But you have to be alert and looking before choosing whether to run through.”
McDonough seemed to value the encouragement, saying Miller must be a great salesman given his powers of persuasion.
“If this is all propaganda to get me to move out of California, it’s working,” McDonough said with a laugh. “I love it here so much.”
Community Compact also has a pilot program in connection with San Francisco-based CoGenerate, a non-profit that operates in conjunction with the Stanford Center on Longevity. The new venture is CoGen Scholars; participants are previous years’ Summer Scholars who return to engage in intergenerational activities during Weeks Three and Five. These alumni stay at denominational houses and explore ways of befriending, connecting and collaborating with older generations, Executive Director Beth Brockman Miller said.
Tala Algadi of Orlando, Florida, is grateful to be back. Her first trip was in 2024.
“I’ve been talking more this week than I have all year!” she said. “I never thought I’d have the chance to return to Chautauqua.”
The University of Florida student befriended Barbara Roedel in the Bird-Werner kitchen while staying at the Ecumenical Community of Chautauqua, where four CoGen members resided.
Roedel gushed about how much the young people added to the communal environment at the ECOC. She appreciated really getting to know the scholars and their callings.
“When I graduated high school in 1971, women could become a nurse, teacher, bank teller, a secretary or get married,” Roedel, a Moline, Illinois, resident said. “I find it empowering to see these young women have so many opportunities and act on them …They are the future.”
The CoGen goal is to engage older Chautauquans who are seeking involvement during meals, after lectures and performances, on walks, over coffee or ice cream and the like.
“It feels like one great big family,” Algadi said.
The CoGen and Summer Scholars hosted a sit-down “Field Day” Thursday at the Hall of Christ. About 50 people participated in multiple activities aimed to spark meaningful conversations across generations.
In a storytelling circle about intergenerational friendships, former Institution Vice President Sherra Babcock talked about her early childhood. Lifetime Chautauquan Jeff Miller of Chartrettes, France, shared about his early days on the grounds, and a friendship with an “older boy.”
As a young child, he would go fishing at the crack of dawn; his new fishing buddy was always waiting. “I talked about him constantly,” he said. “Turns out he was about 70; my parents were not worried then.”
When the conversation shifted to “bridging distances,” Todd Drake of Albuquerque, New Mexico, discussed how many role models provide guidance on how to parent young children, but not so many about parenting when one’s children are adults.
Truly meaningful dialogue ensued. Jim Miller of Ithaca, New York, — Jeff’s brother and the only Millers related in this story — shared how he eventually became best friends with his late father.
Across the hall, a group chatted while making a collage. John Propst of Asheville, North Carolina, told those gathered that people take too much for granted.
“I’m going to do what I can to preserve things or make things better for the next generation,” he said.
Four generations — Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z — each roughly make up 20% of the population, with the Silent Generation at 4% and Generation Alpha, the youth, at 15%.
A former farmer, Brockman Miller says Chautauqua is fertile ground for planting seeds of intergenerational cooperation and hopes propagation will continue when participants return home.
“There is so much potential to create a better, more inclusive society,” she said. “I hope we provide inspiration.”
Heidi Greene Warren is a longtime Chautauquan who, in a former life, was a writer for The Virginian-Pilot, based in Norfolk, Virginia. Send suggestions of interesting Chautauquans to feature in a story to: HeyHeidiGW@gmail.com.
