By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter

Winners of the trivia competition at Shrewsbury Senior Center
Photo/Melanie Petrucci
Shrewsbury – Seniors from the Shrewsbury Senior Center matched wits with seniors from Shrewsbury High School (SHS) Nov. 7 in a game of trivia – “Let’s Rumble: Senior vs. Senior Trivia Competition.”
The competition was one of many events held in connection with the Community Read Project “Dancing Around the Hard Topics,” based on the book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End” by Dr. Atul Gawande.
“The book is about end-of-life decisions and how to enhance the quality of life but it’s also about finding the joy at all stages and this is one of events from our project that’s on that joyful side,” explained Ellen Dolan, Director of the Shrewsbury Public Library.
The trivia idea was inspired by other trivia competitions held at the library. Dolan teamed up with Dr. Jane Lizotte, assistant school superintendent, and Sharon Yager, director of the Council on Aging, in coordinating this event.
“We have 26 seniors in high school here who are participating…They are thrilled to be here,” Lizotte noted.
‘One of the pieces that bring comfort and happiness to people is connecting with other people and sometimes connecting with people who are not the same age is really rewarding,” Dolan shared.
She thought that bringing the students and seniors together would be a great way to build community and to help them understand each other.
“For many of our students, they don’t have elders in their lives with whom they interact so for them this is a wonderful opportunity to expand their knowledge,” Lizotte added.
Examples of the trivia questions included the price of a cup of coffee in the 1950s vs. what it costs today; who were members of the “Rat Pack”; and what were catch phrases of popular products throughout the years.
The “Winning Seniors” won the competition with a score of 46. Team members included seniors Tom Falzoi, Debbie Alger, Michelle Cuenoud, Theresa Nolli and SHS seniors Caitlin Kane, Erin Purcell and Marley Ewick.