Geographically the Fountain Hills High School and Fountain View Village aren’t that far apart.

On a generational level, however, they can be worlds apart.

A new program is being introduced this summer to help bridge the generational gap that may occur between teens and those in their 80s, 90s and even surpassing the century mark.

Called “Storied Lives,” the program is matching up FHHS teens with FVV residents so they can collaborate on brief written biographies of the senior citizens.

Founded on the East Coast by Zeenie Sharif, the Fountain Hills effort will mark the first time “Storied Lives” is being carried out in Arizona.

Patti Milligan of Fountain Hills, who is activating the program here, said the ultimate goal is to have Storied Lives in virtually every high school in the country.

She recruited Teri Larson, resident program director at Fountain View Village, along with FHHS English teachers Patti Brown and Dawn Oester, to help organize teens and FVV residents.

As the pilot program kicks off here this summer, seven teenagers are participating along with a matching number of FVV residents.

“We have the nicest people you’d ever want to meet,” Larson said of her FVV family.

“I’ve always wanted to incorporate more inter-generational activities here at Fountain View.

“There are good people here with many stories to tell. And it’s always encouraging to see young people getting involved and doing positive things.

“It sends a wonderful message to our residents.

“And it’s an opportunity for our teens to relate someone who could be 80 years older than them.”

The oldest participant, Bill Kaufman, turns 103 this month. He and wife Edith have been married 70 years.

Larson also noted that many teens have been relocated away from where their parents grew up, so relationships with grandparents are often long distance with few personal visits.

Stories Lives’ mission is “to connect the generations by having young people write stories about the lives of the elderly in their community. We enable young people’s lives to benefit from the knowledge of the elderly and the lives of the elderly to be brightened and honored by the young.”

Sharif was a junior at West Morris Mendham High School in Morris County, N.J. when she founded the Storied Lives program in 2012.

She developed the concept and served as the program’s first program leader, overseeing the day-to-day execution of the inaugural year of the program.

She currently attends Rutgers University as a School of Arts & Sciences honors student and continues to play an active role in guiding and growing the program.

Storied Lives pairs service-minded high-potential students who love to write with the elderly living in residential care homes, who are often lonely and want to tell their stories.

Over the course of a program, the students will spend quality time with their assigned elderly person, getting to know them, writing a story about their life, and finally, presenting the story to their resident at the program’s closing ceremony.

The local group had its opening ceremony May 28. They will gather again for a celebration and closing ceremony June 29 when the teens will read their stories about the FVV residents.

The students will get community service hours for their efforts.

English teacher Oester told the group, “I’m the family historian, so I know it’s important to have these stories preserved so we don’t lose them.”

The group took a few moments to make a long distance call to Sharif, who is now 20.

“I loved to write since I was young,” she said. “I wanted to blend various assets together into a project.

“I’m excited this has spread outside of New Jersey.

“I thank the students for being involved and volunteering their time. Keep an open mind and an open heart. You’ll have a great experience.”

Milligan exuded exuberance throughout the initial gathering, and several FVV residents expressed enthusiasm for getting involved and working with the teens.

Participating FVV residents are Barbara Steiniche, Elsie Bender, Cathy Underwood, Carol Cherkasky, William Kaufman, Maxine Decker, Adrienne Smoja and Joe Schneider.

FHHS teens in the pilot program are Laura Anderson, Katie McErlean, Hope Brecto, Noah Larson, Max Giger, Derek Weinreich and Sierra Jarriel.

As the opening session broke up, the teens who were able to attend bounced over to the FVV residents and started chatting.

They also discussed how many times they were going to meet through the month and set up appointments.

“I’m so excited to help bring this program to life,” Milligan said. “I can’t wait for the closing ceremony and celebration.”