E-news August, 2017

All Annual Meeting documents and reports are posted on the Senior College website.

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Dear members,

At the recent Workshop on Aging put on by the University of Maine at the Hutchinson Center, I learned that Maine is the only state to have a state-wide network of Senior Colleges. When the movement began twenty years ago, the Bernard Osher Foundation placed an Osher Life-long Leaning Institute in every state. Maine’s was, and is, at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. Maine, however, was the only state to expand this kernel into a state-wide network of seventeen Senior Colleges.

This state-wide expansion was possible only because of Maine seniors’ enthusiasm for continuing education and their willingness to continue on a volunteer basis. I mention this because our Annual Meeting is coming up September 28. It is there that the full scope comes into view. Members of Senior College are not just students or customers but members responsible for the ongoing work of Senior College at Belfast. At that time, we will celebrate the whole core of volunteer instructors, board members, committee members, office and classroom assistants, and many others who make Senior College possible. We will also conduct a certain amount of business to keep the organization running smoothly. All of this is up to us as members.

It will come up at the meeting, but I also want to mention that thanks to your suggestions and support after last year’s Annual Meeting, we ended this year to the good financially. The small fee increase, decision to make students responsible for their books, and some decrease in food combined to get us back on a break-even basis. These changes didn’t go into effect last year until spring; so we should be in a pretty good place this coming year. Thank you.

I for one am really looking forward to the new school year beginning. We have a full complement of excellent courses and instructors all ready to go.

See you soon,

Arlin Larson

Maine State Museum Outing

Thursday, October 4th
Maine State Museum in Augusta followed by lunch in Hallowell
Car pool from Hutchinson Center
$5.00 per person museum admission

One exhibit is about the Revolutionary War ship named Defense that sunk and burned in waters off Stockton Springs; the other shows artifacts from archeological digs relating to Maine’s earliest residents.

For more information or to register for the outing, please contact Pat Moss, email: p73383256@gmail.com, or phone 207-505-0187.

Publicity Committee

Over the summer the Publicity Committee arranged for the mailing and distribution of postcards for Senior College Summer Courses as well as for the Fall 2017 Curriculum.

This newly formed Committee is composed of Mayo Bulloch, Nancy Perkins (chair), Jane and Don Woodruff and Marie Underwood.

Postcards were distributed to numerous venues throughout Waldo County. Additional help was received from Elizabeth Pollock with a volunteer in the Senior College Office. Once again, Sara Shute has generously lent her design skills to this effort. Notices and press releases have been distributed to the local press and an article on Senior College founders is being researched, hopefully to be featured in the newspaper this fall.

Additional ideas and suggestions are welcome. If you would like to help please call Nancy at 207-218-1369.