Celebrate a love of learning with OLLI

Retirement is no time to rest the mind for members of this group. After a morning of reading Shakespeare or painting, they might spend the afternoon learning a new language or discussing current events.

They're part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. There are no teachers and students here but rather coordinators and members -- more than 940 of them last year.

"The program is really cooperative learning," said Mary Pace, an OLLI member and former president of the group's board of directors.

OLLI offers 54 different courses, or "study groups," as the members prefer them to be called.

There are semester-long classes that focus on music, history, foreign languages, philosophy, finance, literature, religion, art and more.

OLLI has an open house scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 10 at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Paradise Campus, 851 E. Tropicana Ave. Coordinators from every class will be available to talk about the lesson plans and answer any questions.

Members said the most popular class every semester is Soap Box, a current events class. A capacity crowd of more than 160 is not unusual .

Classes meet weekly from 10 a.m. to noon or 1 to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Paradise Campus.

Some study groups meet at other locations, including Las Ventanas , 10401 W. Charleston Blvd. ; Sun City MacDonald Ranch Recreation Center, 2020 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway; Sun Shadows Community Center, 8700 Del Webb Blvd.; Humana Community Center, 1000 N. Green Valley Parkway; and Merrill Gardens , 1935 Paseo Verde Parkway.

The program started at UNLV in 1991 as EXCELL, with four study groups and about 70 members. It was renamed after the Bernard Osher Foundation became the program's biggest sponsor.

Registration is $75 per semester, and members can attend as many classes as they want.

Bert Kulic retired in 2000 and joined OLLI in 2008. He would have joined sooner, he said, but he didn't know it existed.

"For eight years, I was stumbling around looking for something to do in my spare time," Kulic said. "I kind of fell in love with the place. I attend classes four or five days a week."

Kulic and his wife, Judy, also coordinate a class about playing bridge.

"Most of our friends at this point are from OLLI," he said. "You really do make lifelong friends.

"There's no homework, no tests, you just show up for the love of learning."

There is no age minimum to join, but members need to be retired or semi-retired.

Having a class with mostly senior students has its advantages, Pace said.

"When they talk about the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Challenger explosion, we know these things," she said. "You share a common background when you live through that. People throw in all these personal stories. It's great getting people together and sharing their knowledge with each other."

John and Dolores Kelly began as classmates and ended up spouses after meeting in OLLI about 14 years ago.

Dolores Kelly said they attend three or four classes a week, and their favorite is Soap Box.

"It just introduces you to so many things you don't know and it always makes you think," Kelly said. "We have some conservatives and some liberals. It's nice to hear the other side."

One of the program's veteran members, Donna Newsom, has been attending classes for nearly two decades and said she hasn't missed a semester yet, excluding the program's summer semesters.

"When I first started, I went five days a week," Newsom said. "I could not get enough of it. That's how so many other OLLIites are, we just can't get enough of it.

"This was just the right thing for me. I'm not one who goes to casinos and puts money in machines. By joining (OLLI), it opened up so many avenues, and the friendship is amazing. We want to keep our minds active (and) to share knowledge."

For some members, such as Elise Hanseman, OLLI was a life saver.

Hanseman joined in 2002 and loved it. When her husband died the following year, she contemplated quitting.

But her children wouldn't let her.

"I didn't know this at the time," Hanseman said. "Before he died, he told them 'to make sure your mother stays in school because it means so much to her.' It helped me get through a very bad time, a very difficult time."

For more information about OLLI, call a ssistant d irector of s enior p rograms Heather Haslem at 895-2872 or visit seniorprograms.unlv.edu/osher.

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.