Teen Tutors Connect With Seniors

Brian Schwartz, 16, practically grew up with a computer mouse in his hand, so he doesn’t think twice about the high-speed benefits of e-mail.

Ruth Smith, 76, came of age writing letters in painstakingly precise cursive, then waiting several days for a response.

Now, the tech-savvy teen and the traditional senior have been matched in an innovative one-on-one computer class designed to narrow the generation gap.

Brian is one of three teens teaching seniors at Onegeneration Senior Center in Van Nuys how to surf the Internet and e-mail family and friends. The Chatsworth youth has been tutoring since he was 12.

“In the very beginning, they were very surprised to be taught by a kid,” said Brian, a wiry teen with braces and a hint of a beard. “They’d say, ‘Aren’t you too young to be in this place?’ But after a while, it didn’t matter.”

Officials at the center said that the program has been beneficial to both teenagers and seniors because it creates an atmosphere for mutual understanding and learning.

“There is a magic that happens when these two generations meet that is not seen in single-generation programs,” said Donna Deutchman, executive director of the senior center.

Brian said he wasn’t worried about teaching seniors because he visits his grandparents regularly and sees himself as his students’ surrogate grandson.

He said he understands that the technology can be frightening. Some seniors using a computer for the first time are afraid they might hit the wrong key and cause the machine to blow up.

“I tell them to feel free to explore,” Brian said. “They can’t break it unless they really try.”

One of his great joys is watching his students learn to send and receive e-mail. “When they actually receive their first e-mail from their grandchildren, their faces light up.”

Once they’ve mastered the basics, Brian said seniors perform advanced Internet searches, such as looking at passenger lists for names of relatives who arrived in the U.S. through New York’s Ellis Island, finding prescription drug information or checking stock quotes.

“I taught one guy how to download Hungarian folk music,” he said.

Brian admits he doesn’t know everything about computers, but the junior at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City considers his limited knowledge an advantage. “It’s good that I don’t know too much of the terms and vocabulary, so I don’t confuse them with too much information.”

Carmine Schiavoni, 78, of Tarzana, took Brian’s class three years ago when he wanted to learn how to use a search engine and chat with other seniors online. With 21 grandchildren, he said he had no problem relating to someone so young.

“Brian is a very patient person and he answered any question I asked,” Schiavoni said. “He has such a long list of people waiting to see him now that I can’t get in.”

On a recent afternoon, Brian and Ruth Smith, a tall, slender woman with salt-and-pepper hair, were holed up in a tiny office at the Victory Boulevard center. Smith wanted to learn how to add names to her electronic address book.

A look of wonder came over Smith’s face as she entered her friend’s name and it appeared in the address book.

“This is such a whole new world,” Smith said. “It’s so much fun.”

Brian said he comes back to the center year after year because he likes ushering seniors into the Information Age.

“I feel like I am helping them to make a connection to a fast-moving world that they don’t always feel a part of,” Brian said. “This is a big way for them to feel connected.”