Learning does not need to end at 18, BC3 and La Roche prove
La Roche University Executive Director of Introcaso Center for Lifelong Learning Jennifer Engel said she remembers when a woman, grieving her late husband, said that the university’s Adventures in Lifelong Learning Program gave her the strength to live.
“We were just sitting one day eating lunch, and she just grabbed my arm and said I think you might know this, and I think I've said this before, but you have to understand you saved my life. I wouldn't be here now, had it not been for this community and this program,” Engel said of her conversation with this woman.
Programs like La Roche’s Adventures in Lifelong Learning and Butler County Community College’s Lifelong Learning create opportunities for seniors, retirees and anyone interested in learning beyond the age of 18, to meet new people, widen their social circles and learn new skills by taking personal enrichment courses at an affordable price.
La Roche offers a wide range of enrichment courses, featuring everything from astronomy to zumba, history, political science and fitness programming. It runs on a similar calendar to the institution’s academic year, with classes lasting about five weeks long for about an hour and a half a week, Engel said.
BC3 similarly offers a diverse array of courses in writing, literature, fitness, retirement planning, artificial intelligence, fine arts and crafts, the culinary arts and a pharmacy technician certification course.
BC3 and La Roche both see enrollment of Butler County residents in their programs. La Roche typically sees engagement from those who live in the southern part of the county. BC3 has class locations in Butler, Cranberry Township and Evans City.
“We served approximately 1,944 adults since January 2023 and of those, 1,383 are 55 and older,” Paul Lucas, BC3 Lifelong Learning director, said via email interview.
He added that amounts to about 71% of participants who are 55 and older.
Sister Candace Introcaso, who La Roche’s center is named after, saw a need for continued education in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh and started the center in January 2022 with about 50 members.
At the end of last academic year, La Roche’s program grew to include 800 people and is continuing to expand this year.
La Roche offers a three-tier membership service that begins at $250 and includes as many academic classes as that person wants to attend, plus the ability to audit classes at La Roche. It also offers seniors access to La Roche’s campus community with discounts at the campus bookstore and cultural events with the Confluence Theater of Pittsburgh.
BC3’s Lifelong Learning courses range from $25 to $525, with most priced between $50 and $130.
Both programs provide retirees and adults opportunities to stay connected and broaden their social networks, Engel and Lucas said.
BC3 librarian Julia Tulba is teaching a class called “Coffee Shop Book Club — ‘Take Me Away.” The class, which meets once a month in September, October and December, will draw on Tulba’s love of travel.
Though her class is open to all ages, she is anticipating most to be in the retiree demographic as her class runs from 9 to 11 a.m. Mondays.
Tulba, who has visited 47 different countries, based her book selections off three different countries: Italy, Japan and Egypt. She plans to incorporate each country’s customs and foods into the curriculum.
At seven classes registered, Carol Brandon, 64, of Prospect is signed up for the most lifelong learning classes at BC3 this semester. A semi-retired software engineer, she is taking time off this year to discover what is next for her and decided to fill her schedule with a few more courses than usual.
She has taken lifelong learning classes at BC3 for the last 10 years. Through the program, she discovered a love for kayaking, tried her hand at fly-fishing and enjoyed the wine tasting classes.
“If you find something you like, it can become a hobby,” she said.
She added that by taking these classes, she has saved money finding out whether an activity was for her.
The program “kind of speaks to the adage that, you know, you’re never too old to learn,” Tulba said. “I’m hoping that, maybe, it will attract some people who never would have come across the three books that were selected, maybe exposing them to a different literary genre than they typically read,” she said of the class that she is teaching.
Though retirees and older adults use these programs, neither college discriminates based on age, with La Roche encouraging inter generational communication between its college students and its Adventures in Lifelong Learning program.
“Social isolation is such a huge thing for many age groups, but specifically for college students and then for older adults,” Engel said. “Especially coming out of [COVID-19] when so many seniors were completely isolated in their homes and they lacked access to their families and their support network, we've become for a lot of people, their support network.”
