Living well and aging gracefully means more than just looking after your physical health.
The path to senior wellness requires both physical and mental engagement.
In fact, there are few ways to find meaning and enrichment in senior life that are more effective than the pursuit of learning and new experiences. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to become intellectually lethargic when you aren’t part of a retirement living community that hosts speakers and other educational experiences or encourages residents to begin their own intellectual pursuits—providing space and resources so that they can get together for discussion, book clubs or poetry readings.
For a society that spends a lot of time worrying about independence, three in ten Americans prefer not to think about aging. They prefer not to consider how they won’t be able to do the things they did when they were younger. As a result there aren’t as many readily available opportunities for older adults to exercise their minds and stay sharp as you would expect.
But there are programs dedicated to helping older adults find enrichment in their retirement living through intellectual pursuits.
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes helps older adults pursue intellectual engagement.
Deupree House is one of those retirement living communities that encourages residents to pursue lifelong learning. We know that education doesn’t end after high school or college, and it certainly doesn’t stop when you retire.
That’s why we have concert series, educational luncheons, formal and informal classes, and authors who we bring in to discuss their just-released books.
We believe that learning is a lifelong pursuit, and there are others who share our belief.
In 1977, Bernard Osher established a foundation with a vision to promote education and the arts for nontraditional students.
Today, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLI) endows over 115 colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education across the United States with scholarships that help older adults pursue education that’s tailored to the senior lifestyle. The unique format of the OLLI learning experience, with no formal grades or exams, encourages seniors to never give up on the joy of learning.
You can find Lifelong Learning in Cincinnati.
Through an endowment from the Bernard Osher Foundation, the University of Cincinnati (UC) has been able to provide lifelong students with the opportunity to keep learning.
Since joining the collegiate network of Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes in 2007— a move which rechristened and rejuvenated the university’s old Institute for Lifetime Education— UC has embarked on a mission “to provide opportunities for lifetime learning and social interaction to the mature residents of Greater Cincinnati.”
Through UC’s OLLI program, older adults in Greater Cincinnati who aren’t part of a dynamic retirement living community are given convenient access to expert instruction in 300 courses that are offered at four principal locations. These classes give mature students the opportunity to participate in a wide range of lectures, seminars, field trips, and other educational events during each eight-week quarter.
The University of Cincinnati takes lifelong learning seriously.
For one low fee each quarter, UC allows 50-and-older Cincinnatians to enroll in as many of the 100-odd classes that are offered each quarter as they want.
The program is able to offer these substantial educational experiences, at a very reasonable cost, thanks to the work of a volunteer staff of professors and administrators alike—only the Program Director and Secretary are paid positions— and a generous endowment from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes.
Stay connected. Stay engaged. Stay informed.
There are always ways to pursue continuing education and life enrichment, no matter your age, experience, or where you’ve settled into retirement living.
You can find the closest Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes partner here or search for local education opportunities state-by-state through SeniorResource.
