Culture

Fall classes for adults: GNG Adult and Community Education and USM-LAC’s Senior College

Terrific learning opportunities for adults are close by, thanks to GNG Adult and Community Education and, for those 50 and up, Senior College in Lewiston-Auburn.  Fall classes are already getting […]

Terrific learning opportunities for adults are close by, thanks to GNG Adult and Community Education and, for those 50 and up, Senior College in Lewiston-Auburn.  Fall classes are already getting under way, so check out the possibilities soon.

GNG Adult and Community Education has long offered a robust range of enrichment classes: arts, personal finance, travel, and more.  But Stephanie Haskins, director of GNG Adult and Community Education, wants to be sure the community knows about the career and education support they also offer.  “We’re like the guidance office, but for adults,” she said.  “Our services go well beyond the high school credential.” Classes to assist with the transition to college, including time-management, study skills, and financial aid, are available, and on the career side, business and skills-training classes.  Browse course offerings hereClick here for program and contact info

If you’re 50 or older, consider Senior College, which offers intellectually stimulating classes and, according to Laura Jane Sturgis of New Gloucester, “the chance to meet some wonderful people.”  The six- or eight-week courses are a bargain at $25, and are offered weekdays in Lewiston-Auburn, typically during daytime hours.  Homework is light and conversation lively.  Topics this fall draw from history, arts, literature, science, philosophy, and beyond.  Sturgis herself is taking a course called “Baseball and the Pursuit of Happiness,” and teaching Dickens’s novel “Great Expectations.”  The catalog is available here.

Says Pat Vampatella of New Gloucester, a member of the Senior College board, a modest $25 annual membership not only entitles you to enroll in classes, but also to attend free single-day sessions in January—“a great way to get out in winter, when you need to!” says Sturgis—and access to the full network of Senior Colleges in Maine.  L-A Senior College is also hosting a monthly series of talks that’s free and open to the public called Food for Thought, Fridays at noon.

To learn more and register online for Senior College classes, visit the website: usm.maine.edu/seniorcollege.  Fall classes start soon and are filling up, says Vampatella, but you can register right up to the first day of classes. She suggests calling 753-6610 to check that the courses you’re interested in have openings.