Nursing Research and Practice Preceptors also highlighted the aﬃrming nature of their experience with precepting younger students. Patricia stated that it was “absolutely positive overall. . .I feel young, I love it, and I’ve gotten nothing but respect from them.” Karen agreed and identiﬁed that her experience was: Deﬁnitely positive overall. . .the students that I have had, for the most part, have been quite eager to learn and, you know, they’re very intimidated initially, but once you make them feel comfortable and you teach them the best you can, you know, for the most part, I haven’t had any issues. It is important to note that being aﬃrmed was manifested diﬀerently for the students than the preceptors and there were six subthemes identiﬁed which illuminate this aﬃr- mation more clearly. From the students’ perspective, being aﬃrmed related to havinga professional role modeland build- ing conﬁdence. 5.1. Having a Professional Role Model. Nursing students often look to the clinical practice setting or the “nursing world” for aﬃrmation of their professionalism ([18, page 81]). In this study, students explained that they believed that they worked very well with experienced nurses and appreciated the practical wisdom and knowledge, as well as the sense of pride in the nursing profession that older nurses embodied. Andrew’s comment suggests that students want to emulate the professional approach of experienced nurses. I wanted to go to somebody older than me. I wanted someone who has a sense of the profession, and a model of professionalism which is maybe a bit more old-fashioned model perhaps than some of the younger generation. I’ve learned skills and knowledge from all nurses, but that issue of ﬁnding someone to model professionalism. . .for me, that’s the part that I’ve appreciated the older generation the most for. Similarly, Mark stated: Actually it was pretty rewarding because, I felt that I could learn a lot from the older generation. They have the skills built up from many generations, really. And she [preceptor] was willing to. . .share whatever she had, so it was great that way. I had a really positive experience overall. Mark added that knowing he could rely on his preceptor led to feelings of comfort and security which was aﬃrming for him in his student role. He further reﬂected on his experience as follows: I had somebody to go to if I got in trouble. . .not in trouble, I should say, there was no trouble, but if I had questions, I had that contact there, and she was more than willing to give me information and help me through whatever I had issues with. Christina also recognized that older nurses have a wealth of nursing knowledge and experience and, as such, represent 5 signiﬁcant role models for students. She did suggest that personality, as well as age or generation, can play a role in determining whether the preceptorship experience would be a positive one. She elaborated in this way: Well, it depends on their own personality, of course. But the ones I’ve lucked into having, I’ve just been in total awe of them, to be quite honest. I just ﬁnd that they’re really knowledgeable and conﬁdent in their work and everything about their work, really. And the ones I’ve had have been really open minded to giving me as much exposure, or as much freedom, I guess, to explore my own type of experiences. 5.2. Building Conﬁdence. For the students in this study, being aﬃrmed was also manifested in being aﬀorded the oppor- tunity to build their conﬁdence. Preceptorship in the inter- generational context was seen as a direct embodied expe- rience or, in other words, a planned immediate encounter in the here and now, that involved them physically and emotionally [34]. This direct embodied experience allowed them to build conﬁdence in their ability to perform new roles. Students’ reﬂections on their experiences as noted in this subtheme are consistent with the constructivist view of experiential learning, particularly Kolb’s [35] cycle of learning, which involves four phases: concrete experience, reﬂective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. The ﬁrst two phases, concrete experience and abstract conceptualization, are considered to be “two dialectically related modes of grasping experience,” while the other two phases, active experimentation and reﬂective observation, are viewed as “two dialectically related modes of transforming experience” ([36, pages 193-194]). During the learning cycle, immediate or concrete experiences serve as the basis for observations and reﬂections which are then integrated and reﬁned into abstract concepts from which new implications for action can be drawn. These implications can then be actively tested thus serving as guides in creating new experiences and building on previous learning [36]. Kolb et al. [36] note that conﬂict between the “concrete” or “abstract” and between “active” or “reﬂective” is generally resolved in patterned ways based upon individual learning styles. Kolb [35] identiﬁes a learning style inventory which can be used to assess four distinct learning styles known as diverging, assimilating, converging, and accommodating. We posit that all four phases of Kolb’s [35] cycle of learning were evident in the students’ comments. For example, Justin described how comfortable he felt with his Gen X preceptor’s level of guidance. There was never a time when she was watching me that I was uncomfortable, or that when I went on my own I was uncomfortable. (concrete experience) Sarah commented on the importance of doing and stated, “That’s one of the main beneﬁts I see. . .just getting out there and being able to put your skills in action. . .that’s something