Senior College offers a new life of learning

The Penobscot Valley Senior College, which started offering classes four years ago, recently completed another successful semester. Six-week courses are offered on Fridays in the spring and fall, most of them at the University of Maine in Orono and some at University College in Bangor.

I have just taken a course in Maine Wildlife Ecology, complete with slides of animals we often see around us as well as the more exotic species of birds and wild animals in forests, valleys, shores and mountains. An interchange between the professors and students is encouraged, with handouts to be read when we return home.

Frequent comments of Senior College students are, “This is the most fun I have had all year,” and “It is hard to choose the classes as they are all so interesting.”

There are no tests, no requisites of prior knowledge and no stress. Everyone is welcome regardless of education; in fact, the classes often lead to further education in fields only dreamed of for many older participants.

Classic topics range from literature, writing, history, nature, computing, growth and personal relationships to religions of the world. You name it – the curriculum committee will try to offer it the following term. All you have to do is to come, enjoy, participate or just listen. Come alone or bring a friend, and you are sure to meet old friends and make new ones.

I asked several participants, “How has Senior College changed your life?” and “Would you recommend any classes to your friends?”

Mary Frazier at first found it difficult to name her favorite class, there were so many she had taken – all of them exciting and informative.

Then her eyes lit up and she said, “ones on local history and the geology of Maine.” Those classes took her back to the many places of Maine and especially her youth.

Experiences with Senior College also have kindled her interest in genealogy, “something I have wanted to do but have put off for so long. I would like my children to know about my heritage,” she said. Frazier enjoyed being on campus, eating with the students and learning about university activities.

I sat next to Elizabeth Baxter and her husband, Elmer, in my class, a couple who had recently moved from Portland to settle in Orono. This was Elmer’s first class with Senior College, though his wife had taken some in Portland.

Elizabeth said she particularly enjoyed “meeting other people with the same interests” in the classes.

Her husband said he would like to share his knowledge of Esperanto, an invented international language based on European roots. He had started a class at Dirigo Pines in Orono, and I suggested that he could perhaps teach it in the fall through Senior College.

Stan Freeman hasn’t missed a class over the past four years. He and his wife, Madeleine, have been active participants in helping create Penobscot Valley Senior College in Orono.

Stan said he has never been disappointed in any of the classes he has taken, from the Civil War – A Personal Journey to Economics and Sociology. He went on to tell me that he had been invited to sit in on one of the professor’s regular classes at the university session and was given advice on additional books to read.

This past class on Maine Wildlife Ecology was the second class I attended with Stan. The other class we took together was on Chekhov’s plays, which the students read out loud – a real hands-on experience.

Stan smiled when he told of how much he enjoyed seeing students on lunch break between his morning and afternoon classes, and hearing their intent chatter.

While the Freemans have backgrounds in academia, Stan pointed out that there are always new subjects to learn.

“One expands one’s awareness and ideas. Most of all, one is never too old to learn,” was another remark I heard from him and other Senior College students.

Polly Camp has taken two classes each term until this last one, when she was teaching a class – her first time doing so at Senior College.

The subject was one very dear to her heart, which she had taught before retirement. The class, What Did You Say?, focused on hearing impairment and Camp was thrilled that so many people were interested in the subject.

She had taken a writing course and is now involved in a publication called Passages, which prints short stories and poetry submitted by Senior College members. Polly said she keeps coming back to classes just for the fun of it.

She also has enjoyed classes on literature, evolution, bacteria and viruses, traditional Chinese painting, marine biology and the Write Now class. Many people have added this class, hoping to get things down on paper for their families and also as a means to get started with writing in general.

One of my most exciting experiences came last year after the spring semester, when some 40 Senior College members took to the road in a bus to follow the Ice Age Trail along the coast of Maine with two very enthusiastic professors, Hal Borns and David Smith.

We spent the night in Machias and then continued to Lubec across the bay. The blueberry fields stretched as far as the eye could see and the topography of peat moss, boulders, hills and valleys that the ice sheet had left was breathtakingly beautiful.

We stopped many times to listen to the lectures, take in the views and walk over the ancient land where much has gone on before us. The glaciers left their marks with huge boulders strewn in their wake like so many chess pieces. The visions of this trip are still with me.

So, you see, the possibilities are endless for a new and exciting life of learning – it will take you far beyond your imagination.

Members of Senior College are age 50 and older. They pay an annual membership fee and a course fee. To learn more about Penobscot Valley Senior College, call 581-1947.