Adult Education – Back to School

March 8, 2022March 8, 2022 Katelin Stecz

Pandemic or Not, Top-Level Adult Education Continues at UM

When Randy Letzler moved to South Florida months before the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 70-year-old actress knew no one except her daughter and granddaughter. So, to make friends and stay active, Letzler became a member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

“Basically, for the first four months before the pandemic hit, OLLI became my home. And during the pandemic, it helped me cope with the isolation,” says Letzler.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is a part of the University of Miami’s continuing education program. Open to anyone 50 years and older, the program offers members a variety of non-degree-based classes taught by UM faculty and other members.

Membership dues cost $55 a year, and classes range from $50 to $125 (most are $80), covering a variety of subjects from iPhone skills to constitutional law to freestyle yoga. However, the director of the program, Magda Vergara, says the most popular classes are currently Western art, Tai Chi, and history classes.

Adult Education - Back to School — Program Director Magda Vergara (Center): “students Want to Learn Purely for the Sake of Learning.”

“You know it’s just such a great program, and one of the best things about it is that the students want to learn purely for the sake of learning,” says Vergara. “Everyone is engaged and adds something unique to the learning environment.”

Besides taking classes, members have the opportunity to participate in “interest group” discussions and social events, all free to OLLI members. “We have an interest group that meets every Monday morning that discusses sports, and one called ‘In the News’ where everyone discusses current events and obviously, the news. And these discussions, they get very lively,” says Vergara. To celebrate the holiday season, OLLI even held a Christmas party over Zoom that included an ugly Christmas sweater competition, sing-a-longs, and holiday-themed trivia.

Classes at the Osher Life long Learning Institute. While some classes are currently being offered in person, many will remain on Zoom until the pandemic recedes

“With the pandemic, we haven’t had a lot of social events. Stuff like that [Zoom party] is just a way for everyone to see each other and get a little bit of communication,” says Letzler, head of the OLLI social committee. While some classes are currently being offered in person, many will remain on Zoom until the pandemic recedes; others are hybrids of Zoom and in-person.

OLLI members can also volunteer to teach classes. Letzler, who has an extensive background in acting, choreography, and directing, started out as an OLLI student, but during the pandemic decided to teach an improvisation class over Zoom. “My students were unbelievable. I had two men and four women, and they just kept me laughing for the whole hour and 45 minutes,” she says.

Letzler isn’t the only OLLI teacher who shares this sentiment. Dr. Batia Cohen Ph.D. (in Mesoamerican studies) says that she loves teaching OLLI students because they’re so educated and engaged in learning. “It is challenging at times because they ask me things I never expect, so I get to challenge myself as well,” says Cohen, who currently teaches an art history course.

OLLI offers 350 classes a year, which run in six-week intervals. The next session will start on March 7 and continue to April 14. The last day to register for this session is March 4th. To learn more about OLLI and registering for classes, go online: olli.dcie.miami.edu.