By Jennifer K. Morita

December 17, 2025

Sacramento State student Kirsten Ortega, 21, didn’t expect to bond with the 82-year-old Renaissance Society mentor she’d been assigned to as part of her Gerontology class.

“I was extremely nervous at our first meeting,” Ortega said. “I didn’t feel I’d be able to connect because we had totally different mindsets because of our ages … but we clicked instantly.

“After that first meeting, I knew this was something I’d remember and look back on for the rest of my life.”

The Renaissance Society at Sacramento State will celebrate its 40th anniversary next year as a lifelong learning program for older adults. In addition to online classes and Friday seminars on campus, mentoring Gerontology students is one of the organization’s longest-running and most popular activities.

Students in two of Jennifer Stevenson’s Gerontology courses are paired with mentors from the Renaissance Society for a semester-long project. They meet three to four times, either in person or on Zoom. Students interview their mentors using a set list of questions that cover their life journeys as well as thoughts on aging and death.

Many of the students will be pursuing careers as care providers, activity or facility managers at aging communities as well as government agencies, nursing or health care fields.

“We’re trying to have students gain experience working with the people they will be serving,” said Stevenson.

The mentorship program, which began sometime in the 1980s, is popular among Renaissance Society members, said President Deanna Hanson. Some members take on multiple students each semester, and many of them sign up for the program every year.

“We’re trying to have students gain experience working with the people they will be serving,” -- Gerontology Department Lecturer Jennifer Stevenson

“It’s almost like you’ve got another grandchild for a period of time,” said Hanson, who was paired with Ortega last year. “Most of the discussions revolve around experiences we’ve had and recalling those major times, including our goals and any regrets we may have had.

“One question was about how I feel about my impending death. So, it gets pretty heavy, but it's a very, very positive experience.”

Stevenson, a Sac State graduate who now lectures on campus, participated in the Renaissance Society mentorship program when she was a student more than ten years ago.

 “I really loved my mentor experience,” she said. “He’s still a mentor today, and I still enjoy talking to him. I know if there’s ever any advice or anything I need, he would give that to me.”

Older adults and young people are two groups most vulnerable to loneliness, according to a 2023 Department of Health and Human Services study. Older adults have the highest rates of social isolation, while young adults are twice as likely than those over 65 years of age to report feeling lonely.

“I was going through a very rough time in my life back then,” Ortega said. “I was struggling in my courses, and I was planning a move halfway across the country when I’d never even been outside of California.

“I was very much struggling with all the unknowns in my life, and I was so young.”

Talking to Hanson gave Ortega the perspective she needed to get through her classes and the move to Texas.

“Learning about where she began and the hardships she had in her life and seeing this amazing, happy woman who is so confident within herself really helped me,” Ortega said. “If she can do it, and she sees herself in me, then I’m definitely going to be okay.”

Ortega’s attitude about aging flipped course as well.

“People think aging is something that drags you down, that you’re not able to get out and experience things anymore,” Ortega said. “But that’s wrong. Deanna is still making friends and still going out. Maybe not ‘til 1 a.m., but she’s still enjoying her life.”