A companionship has bloomed between local teens and seniors through a once per month discussion group.

On the third Thursday of each month, some Swampscott High School students sit down with the Swampscott Senior Center to talk about differences between life as a teenager then and now, among many other topics.

Members of the intergenerational current events club at the senior center and the interact club at the high school make up the meetings, which feature both one-on-one and group-wide discussions. The topic of discussion changes each week, but political talk is off limits.

“The students like to hear what the seniors have to say,” said Sonja Nathan, program and volunteer manager of the senior center.

Students walk over from class to the back of the high school building. They often have already a few questions in mind to ask the seniors, Nathan said.

Along with a weekly topic, both age groups like to discuss what is going on in each other’s lives at the meetings.

Some recent topics of discussion have been the differences between holiday traditions, discipline, and high school happenings during the seniors’ time and now.

“It’s interesting to see how some things are a lot different and some things don’t change,” Nathan said.

Meeting attendance has been strong this school year, she said.

Some students don’t have grandparents and some seniors don’t have grandchildren, making the intergenerational discussions a unique opportunity to learn and connect with each other, Nathan said.

The club will next meet on Thursday, January 15 from 10:55 to 11:20 a.m.