Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning. — William Arthur Ward
Spring semester is almost over, and we are already very busy pulling together the new classes for the fall semester. Next month, we’ll offer a sneak a peek at a few of those classes.
In addition to finishing up classes this month, we are looking forward to an important annual social event. April is the month the center holds a Remembrance Day to honor the memory of Dr. Earl F. Kauffman, who was one of the individuals most responsible for the creation of the Academy for Lifelong Learning (now known as the Center for Lifelong Learning).
On Kauffman Remembrance Day, an award is given in Kauffman's memory to recognize a group or individual that has made significant contributions to the organization. This recognition has been given annually since 1992, just three years after the academy's founding.
A luncheon is part of the celebration, giving members a chance to get acquainted . All current members of the center are invited — an RSVP is required — and are encouraged to attend. The celebration is funded in part from an endowment created by USC Aiken Professor James Kauffman and his family, in memory of his father Earl.
The USC Aiken chancellor is usually in attendance, as well as other prominent members of the college and the community. A list of Kauffman awardees is available online at aikenlearning.org.
The center was established as a volunteer arm of the USCA Continuing Education Department. USCA provides classrooms, guidance, encouragement and administrative support, but depends on the center’s member-volunteers to bring in the classes and instructors (among its other duties).
If you take classes at the center, you are a member and a possible volunteer. The president of the center’s advisory board and all the board members are member-volunteers. The chairs of all committees, coaches for technical classes, and liaisons for the classes are member-volunteers. And as the Volunteer Chair can tell you, there are lots more job slots that require volunteers.
Last month, we heard from a few of these volunteers . This month, I want to share a note I received from Nancy and John Meinhardt. Both were class liaisons for many years, and Nancy was a Kauffman Award winner in 2016. She received the award for her liaison work and many other contributions to the center.
Here is their story: "We found information on the lifelong learning program on the internet as we were checking out Aiken as a place for retirement before we moved here in 2009. John met Dick Baxter at the USCA Wellness Center and was convinced to join. I joined a year later. The classes at that time were all rather academic and in my time on the committee I tried to introduce some fun things such as line dancing and visits to Edgefield and North Augusta. I found that just in our daily life we could identify ideas for classes. I met Brenda Taylor (line dancing) at a Zumba class at the Wellness Center. I found David Tavernier at a book signing at the Aiken library. One of the most well attended classes we did was on the 'Dangerous' South with over 100 attendees. That idea came from something I read in the 'Stall Wall' news. Professor Todd Hagstette gave an excellent and lively presentation regarding Southern traditions in dueling.
"We met Billy Benton at water aerobics and suggested he do a class on local history or horses as we could see he had lots of knowledge in both areas. We also encouraged Jim Tisaranni to join (I am friends with his wife from our Mah Jong group). Being new to the area, we were exploring it and got the idea for a trip to North Augusta (Arts & Heritage Center and Living History Park) and another area was Tanya Guy at the Edgefield Historical Society who did several on site programs for us in costume.
"We found that Aiken has so much to offer that we only needed to look around us to find some great ideas. We started with Alexia Helsley because we wanted someone to do a class on cathedrals of Europe. I'm sure there is much more that we have already forgotten, but the general idea is that we have such a wealth of knowledge all around us of which we can take advantage.
"We started promoting the idea of classes as fun rather than dull academic topics and I believe this brought in more people. It was a pleasure to see people show up and enjoy a class that we introduced, and it always made us happy that something we did might have benefited others."
As you can see, Nancy and John were very active volunteers. Their method of finding new classes and instructors is the tried-and-true classic way, and John and Nancy were masters of the technique. All you have to do is look around you, explore the community and talk to people you meet — the Aiken area is a treasure trove of ideas for interesting classes.
We hope when you begin taking classes at the center, you too, will consider becoming a volunteer. Besides just searching for new classes, there are many other volunteer slots that can use your experience and expertise, no matter what your field of interest happens to be.
The spring catalog is still online and shows the type classes offered at the Center for Lifelong Learning. The fall catalog is generally mailed in mid-July and classes will begin in early September.
For more information, call 803-641-3741 or visit aikenlearning.org.
