A quarter-long health class at Swampscott High School teaches students how to communicate with older adults living with dementia by pairing them with seniors at the Swampscott Senior Center, educators and students told the School Committee on Thursday.

The course, called Bridging Generations, is part of the high school’s health department and is led by health teacher Hadley Woodfin. The class is built around Opening Minds through Art (OMA), an established program that uses abstract art to engage people living with dementia. Students visit the senior center and work one-on-one with older adults on a series of art projects.

“Really, the focus of it is an intergenerational program that helps bridge two generations: our high school students with our older adults living in Swampscott, as well as some surrounding neighborhood towns,” Woodfin said. “We are really trying to decrease the stigma that surrounds aging within our society and promote a more connected and inclusive community here in Swampscott.”

Assistant Senior Center Director Sabrina Clopton said the class grew out of earlier efforts to bring dementia-friendly training into the schools.

“I remember when I interviewed for my job at the senior center, and my director said that she wanted to conduct dementia-friendly training in the high school, and I was like, is that really gonna happen?” Clopton said. “And now we have students that walk around with Massachusetts Dementia Friends buttons on their backpacks…I just think that Hadley’s class is the culmination of a lot of vision and her hard work, and it’s really just been such a success.”

Before working with seniors, students complete four classroom training sessions with OMA facilitator Siobhan MacDonald, of Granger Street Studios.

“Ms. Siobhan, gives us four training sessions, and it’s basically where we learn about dementia and just the different types, and also how it can affect people,” junior Alex James said. “One of our biggest takeaways as a class from these training sessions was learning that dementia isn’t a normal part of aging.”

MacDonald said her previous work in visual arts programs in memory-care settings led her to OMA, which she later brought to Swampscott.

“OMA allows people who are living with dementia, who have led full, rich lives but don’t have access to all of their cognitive abilities, to have this new richness as teachers and artists,” she said. “It lets them leave a legacy of artwork. It lets them build relationships with students.”

MacDonald told the committee that Swampscott is “the only town in Massachusetts that has embedded OMA into the curriculum,” and said the town has been highlighted “many times” on the OMA website.

“Truly, art is the vehicle to the relationship,” she said.

Students shared during Thursday’s meeting how the OMA training has changed their lives. They spoke of becoming more confident with speaking with people experiencing memory challenges.

They also told the committee they have seen changes in the seniors’ moods over the course.

“In this class, we can all say that we’ve seen mood improvements from many of the seniors who participate,” junior Eve Byrne said. “A lot of them look forward to coming, and all of them have just become a lot happier since being there.”

Students shared how the stories the seniors tell them are touching and help to build the connection between the two generations. One senior told of a senior who had emigrated from Greece and worked as a hairdresser for 60 years. The pair didn’t get to the art portion of the OMA lessons for a bit because the senior kept encouraging the high schooler to visit Greece.

“You’re young now, but you’ll carry this experience for the rest of your lives,” School Committee Member John Giantis, said. “It’s going to help your own life and your own relationships with the older people in your life.”

School Committee Member Suzanne Wright pointed to Swampscott High’s unique layout that allows for such bonding.

“I’m really happy that we’re probably the only high school, I think, in the United States that has a senior center built into it,” Wright said. “So I think that is really cool and special.”

The Bridging Generations quarter will conclude with an art show on January 14 at the Swampscott Senior Center, beginning at 12:30 p.m. during the school day. Students will display and frame their partners’ artwork at a reception for families and community members.

“It’s a really, really great way to showcase and wrap the whole course up together,” Woodfin said. “We’d love to see any of you there on January 14.”