P.E.I.'s popular Seniors College about to start 18th year

For people over the age of 50, there are more than 100 coursesat the popular Seniors College of P.E.I., which has been operating for 18 years.

The continuing education program offers courses in Queens, Kings, and Prince counties, over three semesters in the fall, winter and spring.

The first day of registration is coming up Sept. 10, and some of the courses reach their enrolment limit fast.

"The very, very popular courses can fill up within two minutes," said Barb Mullaly, one of the organizers of Seniors College, speaking on Island Morning.

Those include computers courses, cooking, hiking, but there are plenty of others to take as well, with no limits once you sign up.

The 50s to 60s to 70s now aren't the 50s to 60s to 70s of 20 years ago.- Barb Mullaly, Seniors College

"For $160 per year, you can take as many courses as you want over three semesters, and we have everything from people taking one course to people signed up for 17 courses," said Mullaly.

Lots of new courses

They also add plenty of new courses each year, to make sure there's something fresh for returning students.

This year, 25 new courses have been added, including one on Island social issues.

That came out of discussions last term about activists and activism on P.E.I., and will feature some pretty passionate people on the issues, according to the course leader.

"We're doing a series of eight sessions, and some of the speakers are going to be on the land issue, the water issues, poverty eradication on the basic income guarantee, newcomers," said Sister Gemma Dunn, with the Sisters of St. Martha's spirituality centre.

"We tried to pick these that come out of some of the basic Christian social teachings."

Also new this year are some shorter night courses.

Socializingimportant too

Along with the education, there's an equally important goal to bring people together.

"One of the objectives of Seniors College is that it be a place where people 50-plus can get together, talk about ideas, talk about issues that are current, and expand their minds," explained Mullaly. "But also the contact, the socialization, and that's very, very important in all of our offerings."

That's something Sister Dunn has seen at work in her classes.

"One of the courses we had, there was a woman who was 51, and a lady who was 91, and I said, 'Isn't this awesome!' They're all there to learn, and to socialize, I must emphasize," she said.

"The 50s to 60s to 70s now aren't the 50s to 60s to 70s of 20 years ago," said Mullaly "First of all, they don't want to be called old. They are going to be active and involved their whole life."

Information on the courses and registration can be found at seniorscollege.ca.

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