By STEVE AYERS
Staff Reporter

CAMP VERDE — Whatever happened to the generation gap?

It wasn't all that long ago that the baby boomers and "America's greatest generation" were touting their failure to communicate.

But as quickly as it appeared on the cultural scene, it seems to have disappeared.

Perhaps it vanished when the boomers vanished over the hill, no longer in view of the gap they identified so long ago.

Perhaps they just forgot.

Or maybe it never existed.

A recent experiment conducted at the Camp Verde Chamber of Commerce's Visitor Center would indicate such gaps -- if in fact they do exist -- result from, and are not the cause of, a failure to communicate.

Evidence came to light this last spring when the boomers who now operate the chamber decided to tap the local student population for some volunteers.

Up to that point, the chamber's volunteer pool consisted of a handful of retired residents, led by the venerable nonagenarian, Dorothy Wood.

Chamber member Amy Romero, liaison to all things younger than an IBM punch card, extended an invitation to Steve King, principal of South Verde Technology Magnet Charter School, to find another handful of volunteers from among the school's broadband, multicultural, iPod/iPhone-skilled student population.

Shortly thereafter four students were paired with senior volunteers so the students could learn the workings of the visitor center and assist tourists while discovering for themselves the trials and tribulations of the working world.

It quickly became a three-way learning experience between the students, seniors and the chamber staff.

"We had the computer and MapQuest. They knew everything right off the top of their heads," says Raina Russell, a 16-year-old student at South Verde.

As can well be imagined, such a blending was not without its ups and downs.

"We had to revisit and redefine everything from dress codes to cell phone policies," says Tracie Schimikowsky, director of operations for the chamber.

"It was interesting transitioning them from school attire to work attire. Spaghetti straps don't cut it."

In spite of its challenges, the intergenerational volunteers, as Chamber Board member Linda Buchanan dubbed them, became a rewarding experience in many ways.

Earlier this month, the Arizona Office of Tourism presented the Camp Verde Chamber of Commerce with its "Spirit of Service Award," the first time the award has been given to a group as opposed to an individual.

In Russell's case she not only learned about numerous resources in the area, from senior living apartments to what Fort Verde was all about, but she was also recently hired as the Visitor Center coordinator, a job that now includes a paycheck.

"In spite of the bumps, the program has been such a success," Schimikowsky says. "We are looking forward to continuing it."