Launceston local Joan Webb has graduated from the University of Tasmania after beginning her doctorate in 2013. She is 90 years old. Her inspiration – the creativity of residents in aged care homes.
She began her Master’s in 2011 and finished it in two years, but was originally reluctant to keep going with her studies.
So what made her keep going?
Seeking older students
In her late 80’s, she started teaching at a school for seniors in Launceston, Ms Webb decided to spend some time visiting people in aged care homes who wouldn’t be able to go to a school situation.
She began teaching weekly writing sessions, first in creative writing and then in poetry. Joan says the experience is one of the best things she has ever done.
“There are people in high care who have lost a massive amount of their physical capacity, and still have the most amazing ideas and creativity within them,” she told the ABC.
Her thesis title – “I only look forward to Mondays: Facilitating creative writing groups: Ageism, action and empowerment” – actually came from a resident’s comment about how much they looked forward to her classes.
The power of poetry
She does admit when she began the poetry classes, the residents were a bit shy about speaking up in the sessions, but a poem by “one elderly lady with a marvellous sense of humour” quickly changed their minds.
“She said ‘No, I can’t share it with you, it’s too cheeky’. I said ‘I like cheek’,” Ms Webb said. “Once you broke down that barrier, they did the most amazing work imaginable. They were really brilliant people, an inspiration to me.”
We certainly find Ms Webb an inspiration too.
