Inside the library at Vanier Catholic Secondary School, about a half-dozen people sit at a table.

Their conversation drifts from the Intergenerational Day activities held May 31, and is to be the focus of the discussion to the topic of scuba diving.

They talk about scuba diving opportunities both in the Yukon – one person asking where you can dive in the territory, another pointing to many of the lakes as well as training at the Canada Games Centre – and those more tropical locales scuba diving is associated with.

There may be a number of decades in age between the youngest and oldest in the group, but that doesn’t seem to matter.

And that is largely the point of the Intergenerational Day – for younger and older generations to make those connections and potentially build relationships that will go beyond the activities of the day.

“It really breaks down barriers,” Gayle Moffatt, a senior who took part in the activities, noted Friday.

He also pointed out the many cultures represented in Vanier’s student population.

As student Courtney Brown said: “This definitely has to happen again.”

The event at Vanier came about thanks to the Yukon Community Network.

Debbie Janzen, the project facilitator, worked in partnership with the Yukon Council on Aging.

Jane Stayner was the co-ordinator and coach, and Sylvie Hammel, a teacher at Vanier, involved her Grade 12 social justice class in the events of the day.

A similar but smaller event was also hosted for last year’s Intergenerational Day.

This year, thanks to a grant that was made available, a longer list of activities, involving more seniors and students, was held in the school’s library, with the exception of a bocce match outside on the field.

“We hope it becomes an annual event,” said Connie Dublenko, president of the Yukon Council On Aging.

With a morning that featured card games, bocce, colouring and other activities, both the students and seniors were looking forward to the event, but did not realize the connections that would be made.

“The students were absolutely phenomenal,” Dublenko said, recalling their help in showing her how to play bocce, a game that was entirely new to her.

Senior Sandy Peacock, who was unable play bocce after having recent surgery on her knee, said just watching the game was fun.

“There was a lot of laughter,” she said.

Before the event began, the students set up the library for nearly all the activities and decorated it with flowers.

As the seniors arrived, the mingling of generations got underway.

Participants quickly learned how much they had in common with one another and how much there was to learn from one another.

“It was cool to hear different stories,” student KC Mooney noted, recalling the tales one senior told of his youth.

Along with hearing one another’s stories, it was also an opportunity to learn new games like bocce or cribbage.

Dublenko noted one senior at the event had a group of students gathered around to learn crib, making sure the students counted their own hands in the card game.

As the activities continued throughout the morning, the talk turned to the students’ and seniors’ mutual interests. In some cases, plans were made to socialize outside the school setting.

Brown, for example, made plans with one senior to get together and do some cooking.

“I’m so glad that happened,” Peacock said when Brown remarked on the intention.

Peacock keeps busy with a number of community groups and social activities. Not all seniors have that opportunity, however, she pointed out. Events like this can help create a stronger social network for them.

Seniors and students both noted they’d like to see Intergenerational Day become an annual event. They spoke of possibilities to expand on it, perhaps having high school students in social justice clubs and classes visit such continuing care facilities as Copper Ridge Place or Macaulay Lodge.

Whether either of those would go ahead would depend largely on factors like funding and scheduling availability of the students.