Young ‘phone pals’ help break isolation for seniors during pandemic

In 2017, University of Arizona psychologist Matthias Mehl and his team confirmed through a study that there is a correlation between happiness and substantial, deep conversations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, isolation has made this harder, especially for seniors.

Seven high school students, four of whom are from Gig Harbor, have created an application that allows high school and college students to become “phone pals” with senior citizens in Washington.

“Seniors get enough of shallow conversation, but people are craving deeper conversations,” said Mimmi Beck, a mother to one of the founders and a SAT tutor to all seven.

These seven students include Gaelan Steele, Anna Cardinal, Reagan Schoepflin, McCain Potasky, Emma Beck, Jack Corliss, and Johnny Lo.

“I like to help out with miscellaneous things, and it was a good opportunity for everyone here to help other people,” said Potasky, a senior at Gig Harbor High School.

Any Washington student can log onto phonepals.net using their school ID to connect with a volunteer senior citizen. Students then earn volunteer hours as they speak with their senior. There are currently 28 senior citizens eagerly waiting to speak with their new phone pal.

“There are some really cool people on there who are ready to take calls,” said Emma Beck, a recent Gig Harbor High School graduate.

Emma Beck said she is currently speaking with a 93-year-old woman in Seattle. This woman is a very active member of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

“I’ve talked to two people on and off who are living at the same place in Seattle. One woman I talk to, her son is a professional juggler.”

Other seniors include a 98-year-old who has lived through the great Depression, a writer, a war veteran, and many others who all have an interesting story to tell.

The senior citizens signed up to speak with students are from Horizon House in Seattle, Kensington Gardens in Gig Harbor, Herons Key in Gig Harbor, and many other homes.

The phonepals application is completely student designed. All calls are done though the phonepals application, with safety features added to ensure all phone numbers are hidden.

Gaelan Steele, who graduated from Gig Harbor high School and will be attending University of St. Andrews in Scotland, designed the code for phonepals.net.

“I’ve been doing coding many years now,” Steele said. “I have a job as an intern at the Peninsula School District where I do a lot of coding project for them, so I’ve been doing that through high school.”

Jack Corliss, a Sumner High School student, said his thinking has changed ever since working with this application. During one of their meetings, Corliss said a pastor singled him out in the group.

“The general theme was that you should go past the surface and ask the tough questions. He asked about times I’ve been lonely in my life,” Corliss said. “After those questions I felt way more conformable talking to the group. It was wild how much better the conversations were afterwards.”

Corliss said especially during quarantine, generations don’t get to mix together as much, and this application allows students and seniors to come together.

Johnny Lo, a Bellarmine High School senior, added phonepals is a benefit to not only the senior citizens, but to students as well. Lo spoke about a friend who has struggled with mental health issues throughout her life. This friend spoke with a senior citizen through phonepals.

“My friend talked to the senior citizen about what she’s been thinking during quarantine, and the senior citizen could relate to that,” Lo said. “My friend liked she could tell that person, because she knows they wouldn’t tell anybody. It was a level of privacy.”

Kira Rosenlind, a Gig Harbor High School graduate, joined phonepals less than two weeks ago. Rosenlind is no stranger to community service.

“I was a National Honor Society president, was on the school board, I was really involved,” Rosenlind said. “Community service is a fantastic thing to do, and this is something you can do during the pandemic.”

Students or senior citizens who would like to become phone pals can get more information at www.phonepals.net.

This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 12:00 AM.