The two, who now class each other as good friends, met through the Your Life Journey, Adopt a School project.

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Now in its second year the project helps volunteer students to interview, record and create a digital oral history of some of the region’s older residents.

Mrs Clark looks like your run-of-the-mill grandmother, but as Kiaya discovered through the project, she is far from it.

Through interviews and conversations once a week for two months, Kiaya and five fellow year 10 Shoalhaven High School students peeled back the layers of time revealing adventures, romances and memories that could rival any modern day movie plot.

“I enjoyed it very much,” Mrs Clark said.

She said the students were a little shy at first but quickly learned how to get people talking and discovered that “we’re not all asleep”.

Through interviews the students learnt Mrs Clark had travelled the world, her husband was a war correspondent and an editor, she was made Canberran of the Year and was awarded the Queen’s Medal for her charity work.

“It was a chance for me to find out about the students too,” Mrs Clark said.

“I was looking forward to it each week.

“It was a great way to bring the residents here back into normal living and mixing with young people,” she said.

Kiaya said she learned a lot through the project, which she said had helped shape her life.

“Molly has had such an amazing life. It really inspires me.

“When you see older people you tend to think who they are now is who they’ve always been, but they have had this whole other life,” Kiaya said.

“I’ve learned that instead of worrying about money and everything today there is so much more to learn throughout life.”

After the interviews students created powerpoint presentations, copies of which were given to the Shoalhaven Historical Society.

Society president Lynne Allen said she appreciated the way the project encouraged youth to see the importance of capturing every generation’s history.