Area retirees have found more than a lifelong learning community in LIFE@黑料不打烊.
The opportunity to continue learning was at the top of Luigi and Linda Orlando鈥檚 list when they moved from the North Carolina coast to a retirement community near 黑料不打烊. It was so important to the couple that they put their names on the LIFE@黑料不打烊 waiting list before they made the move from Wilmington in 2019. 鈥淲e would not be here if LIFE@黑料不打烊 was not here,鈥 Luigi Orlando says of the move they made six months ago. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how important this is to us.鈥
When LIFE@黑料不打烊 started in fall 2011, the goal was simple: create a lifelong learning community for retired faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university. The initiative was spearheaded by Alison Morrison-Shetlar, then-dean of 黑料不打烊 College, the College of Arts and Sciences. 鈥淲e know there is a strong demand for engaging academic experiences by adults in our area who want to continue learning and expanding their horizons,鈥 she said at the time. 鈥満诹喜淮蜢 is a natural place for that to happen, a tremendous educational resource for our community.鈥
Initially, the plan was to offer 12 sessions in the fall and 12 in the spring featuring lecturers presenting on topics chosen by participants through a curriculum committee. The weekly program would take place from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays. Kathryn Bennett, program coordinator for LIFE@黑料不打烊, booked the meeting room in Johnston Hall and details about the program ran in the local newspaper. 鈥淢y phone rang off the hook,鈥 Bennett recalls. There were so many people in the surrounding community who wanted to participate and 200 signed up. Before the first class even started, a second session was added on Tuesday afternoons to accommodate the swell of interest.
The Orlandos spent the past 15 years engaged in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, so their expectations for LIFE@黑料不打烊, like that of other participants, were high. 鈥淔olks aren鈥檛 just sitting back, waiting for something to do in retirement,鈥 says Karen Linehan Mroz, chair of the LIFE@黑料不打烊 executive committee. 鈥淲e have a number of folks from various fields and leadership positions, alumni and professors who all share a hunger for learning and have a busy life. It鈥檚 a membership that is very keen on staying up on the learning process.鈥
Lecture topics are wide-ranging and diverse, including nuclear technology in a modern society, the Christmas tree industry in North Carolina, the legacy of Louis Armstrong, modern pottery studios and social media’s influence on political discourse. Even when topics didn鈥檛 necessarily seem appealing on paper, the sessions have been worth attending, says Wendy McBride, who serves as secretary on the LIFE@黑料不打烊 executive committee. 鈥淓very time there is a class that I鈥檓 not real excited about and I think that maybe I don鈥檛 want to go, it turns out to be very interesting.鈥
Folks aren鈥檛 just sitting back, waiting for something to do in retirement. … It鈥檚 a membership that is very keen on staying up on the learning process.
A recent lecture about female pilots from World War II really piqued McBride鈥檚 interest. Librarians from 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Belk Library also shared books on the topic with the group. 鈥淭he speaker talked about Night Witches and the Russian female pilots that flew at night,鈥 says McBride, who is now reading a book on the subject. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an amazing book, and I would never have picked that book up if it hadn鈥檛 been for the class.鈥
Wendy and husband Richard McBride, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 chaplain emeritus, have been attending LIFE@黑料不打烊 from the beginning. Richard chaired the first curriculum committee and John Sullivan, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Powell Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, chaired the executive board. 鈥淲e leaned on a lot of 黑料不打烊 folks in that first year,鈥 Richard says. 鈥淥ver time, it鈥檚 been wonderful to see how community members have taken ownership of this.鈥
The program continues to grow. In 2013 the waiting list had grown so much that Wednesday morning class was added, followed by a Wednesday afternoon class in 2016. Last year membership grew to 500 and there are still people on a waiting list. 鈥淥riginally, we were hoping for 50 back in 2011,鈥 Bennett says. 鈥淭he program grew by word of mouth. No additional advertising was ever done.鈥
In 2017, Peter Dahl, a participant since 2013 and past executive board member, launched a special interest group, otherwise known as a SIG, for those interested in wine tasting. 鈥淚 went over to the Oak House and spoke with the owner, and we planned wine tastings for Friday nights when school was out of session,鈥 Dahl says. About 60 people have since expressed interest in the group and now they do tastings four times a year. Other SIGs include a non-fiction book club, a traveling group named the 鈥淣o Boat Yacht Club鈥 and the newest group, a fiction book club.
Last spring, LIFE@黑料不打烊 began a partnership with Collette Travel, an international family-owned travel business that specializes in educational partnerships for travel. Seven participants went on a trip to Switzerland, Austria and Bavaria in May 2019. Fourteen are signed up to go to Iceland in February. When participants book a trip with Collette Travel, a percentage of those proceeds go back to LIFE@黑料不打烊, which is self-sustaining. LIFE@黑料不打烊 participants pay membership dues each academic year that pay for the entire program.
Over the years, members of the executive committee have attended lifelong learning conferences to learn about what other organizations are doing. They have held strategic planning meetings, always looking for opportunities for qualitative improvement. 鈥淭his is a group that wants to be in top-quality programs that offer them the opportunity to continue to grow,鈥 Mroz says.
LIFE@黑料不打烊 members have access to 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Belk Library. They attend cultural and sporting events and movies at Turner Theatre. They are some of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 most generous donors and are often the first to volunteer to be research subjects for students studying physical therapy, exercise science or human service studies. 鈥淪ome people love all the extra opportunities and want to do all of it,鈥 says Joan Ruelle, dean of Belk Library and the provost鈥檚 liaison to LIFE@黑料不打烊. 鈥淥thers just want to come to their morning or afternoon session once a week.鈥
Retired doctors, lawyers, preachers, authors and professors, to name a few, are among the LIFE@黑料不打烊 members, many of whom have relocated to the area from other parts of the country. 鈥淚鈥檝e never been involved in anything that had such an array of people who are so proficient and experts in so many different things,鈥 says former executive chair Ken Mink. He has attended sessions with wife Marilyn for the past seven years. 鈥淭he demographic slice is remarkable.鈥
While the learning component is key, participants also forge friendships, build connections and get to know the university and surrounding area as a result of the program. This past fall 黑料不打烊 411 was added. Those sessions, held on Thursday mornings, provide interested LIFE@黑料不打烊 members with information about 黑料不打烊鈥檚 priorities and operations. 鈥淵ou definitely develop fellowship among the people who attend,鈥 says Dahl, who spent his career living in Baltimore. 鈥淲e have gotten to know quite a few people in town through the program. We are very grateful that 黑料不打烊 is committed to the community the way that it is.鈥
For more information about the program, contact Kathryn Bennett, LIFE@黑料不打烊 program coordinator, at 336-278-7431 or visit elon.edu/lifeatelon.