PEI Seniors College What’s new for 2013-2014

As featured in The BUZZ.

PEI Seniors College is kicking off the 2013-2014 year with a number of new courses that are being offered for the first time. The focus on offering new courses came about in response to member feedback. This year over 30 per cent of courses are new.

If you are presently a member of Seniors College, or if you are considering becoming a member for the first time, consider the following courses as you make your course selections.

How about learning to cook Mexican? This course is great for members who like to eat and learn about cooking Mexican food. Participants will also learn some facts about Mexican culture that in some cases are expressed through the food.

Did you ever want to learn how to play bridge but just never had the time? The College is offering a basic bridge course that provides a well–balanced overview of bidding, play, and defence.

Need some drama in your life! Characters in Search of a Play involves both writing and acting. Participants will learn basic playwriting skills, create memorable characters and, as a group, write a short play to feature them. The play will then be performed with the writers giving life to their creations.

All About The Money will cover a range of financial topics including personal financial statements, plastic cards (debit/credit), debt management, insurance, taxation plus two additional related topic areas as identified by the participants. (e.g., On-Line Banking )

A new course will outline many of the 385 species of birds—from loons to sparrows—that we have here on PEI. Use field guides and field marks to identify birds, their notable behaviors and habitats where they are found. There will also be a little work using song for identification in the course. At the mid-point of the course a field trip for both plants and birds will be offered at a natural area close to Charlottetown.

A course in French for beginners will cover basic French pronunciation, numbers, essential phrases and verbs to communicate in everyday situations such as greeting people, introducing people, asking and giving information, and expressing needs.

Have you ever thought of line dancing? Learn the basic steps of line dancing and several dances to different music styles.

Get outside for some fun and exercise by trying the Orienteering, Map and Compass Reading course. This course covers map reading, contour interval, measurement of distance, map and compass detail, references and more.

An introduction course on meditation will teach participants how to meditate in a natural comfortable way, and explore ways one can easily incorporate meditation into daily life.

These are just a few examples of the new course offered by the college. To get a good overview the 2013–2014 program offerings visit the college website at www.seniorscollege.ca to obtain course details and updates on registration procedures. And remember Seniors College courses are available in Prince, Queen’s, and King’s Counties and anyone who has paid the Seniors College membership fee may take as many courses as they like in any location. For information contact the Seniors College Coordinator at 1-902-894-2867 or email Darlene at seniorscollege@upei.ca.

Celebrating the Arts Website

The Celebrating the Arts - a Seniors College of PEI initiative involving the visual arts, theatre, music and writing has launched an ongoing, Celebrating the Arts website. Check it out !

Celebrating The Arts

Seniors College - Family History Class Resources

Seniors College of PEI is again offering Bringing Family History to Life: The Techniques & Technology of Family History Research.

Taught by Ian Scott and Bob Ramsay, the course has a class resource page with helpful links related to the various topics covered:

• Family History Class Resources

Celebrating a Decade of the Arts at Seniors College

Seniors College of PEI announced an exciting new project at its Christmas Get Together held on December 6th at the Jack Blanchard Family Centre. With funding from a Government of Canada

New Horizons Leadership grant, the project will celebrate the accomplishments of its member artists, writers, musicians, photographers and actors who have developed their skills in courses taken at Seniors College over the past ten years.

Seniors College will mount an exhibition of paintings, drawings and digital photographs by students of art classes held throughout the Island. Their work will appear in a gallery exhibition and will continue to appear in a virtual gallery on-line.

In addition, the College will publish a journal of creative writings by the students of the creative writing classes, both in hard copy and on-line.

The choral music class will produce a CD of their music from the past several years and share it with the community on-line.

Finally, the most ambitious part of the project will be the launch of The Venerables, a play that ran for over 20 years and helped focus attention on issues and societal views on aging. This will be a live production with a web based version also available.

“This is an important and exciting community project,”says Ian Scott, Past President of Seniors College and Chair of the New Horizons Project. “For everyone learning new skills in retirement, having their work publicly displayed or aired recognizes the value and enrichment that their creative efforts give to our own communities and worldwide on the Internet.”

Julie Dowling, President of Seniors College, says, “After a decade of developing creative arts programs for hundreds of PEI seniors all across the Island, we wanted to celebrate these contributions by sharing their work with the broader community. Now, with the help of the New Horizons grant, all four components of the project will come together at a celebration event in the fall of 2011.”

Seniors College is a dynamic and rapidly growing organization devoted to providing learning opportunities for seniors on Prince Edward Island. The College offers a wide range of stimulating courses in three regions of PEI from October to May.

Seeking Coordinator

Coordinator for Seniors College of Prince Edward Island

Seniors College of Prince Edward Island is a self-governed, volunteer, membership-based organization providing welcoming, comfortable, affordable learning for all seniors (50+), with a wide range of non-credit, peer learning opportunities.

The part-time Coordinator will organize course offerings in Charlottetown for fall, winter and spring semesters, be a member of various committees to further the goals of the College province-wide, and support the Board of Directors in strategic endeavors.

A moderate stipend accompanies this primarily volunteer role.

The successful candidate will possess strong administrative, analytical, computer, communication and interpersonal skills. Customer service is the key element of this position. Work can be conducted from home with regular personal interaction with various partners in Charlottetown. Self-direction and conscientious dedication are important.

Please send your résumé to
seniorscollege@upei.ca
by March 31st, 2009

Computers helping community groups

as published by The Guardian - Dec 22, 2008

Seniors College of P.E.I. board member David Mabon, left, Seniors College student Roberta Hubley, Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan and Industry Canada Community Development Officer Tim Wartman, right, take a look at some of the computers recently donated to the Seniors College at the ISN Wireless facility in Montague through the Computers for Communities P.E.I. Initiative.


Not-for-profit community groups and charitable organizations across the Island can now receive refurbished computers, free of charge, thanks to a partnership between Industry Canada and the Provincial Treasury.

Provincial Treasurer Wes Sheridan recently visited the Seniors College in Montague to see first-hand how the Computers for Communities Initiative (P.E.I.) is helping Island community groups stay connected.

This initiative falls under the umbrella of the Computers for Schools (CFS) program, a national partnership between Industry Canada and non-profit licensees across Canada.

Surplus computers, which have been donated by the public and private sectors, are refurbished and given to schools, libraries and non-profit learning organizations throughout the country. Industry Canada is contributing $129,940 towards the Computers for Schools program in P.E.I. for 2008/09.

Schools require Pentium 4 level computers, but CFS also receives many Pentium III level computers and wants to find good use for them.

The Computers for Communities (P.E.I.) Initiative will make sure these make their way to not-for-profit community organizations.
Provincial Treasury employees are administering the program on P.E.I.

“Gaining a full classroom of computers allowed Seniors College to expand our programming into Montague,” said Seniors College president Ian Scott. “We were able to respond to requests from Islanders wishing the opportunity to gain new skills in a supportive and very accessible environment. Whether at a basic or more advanced skill level, our programs have been very popular. This program quickly put much needed computers into a community situation where, coupled with an excellent teacher in Pat Hayes, they are making a real difference.”

To qualify for the CFC (P.E.I.) Initiative, a community group or charitable organization must have not-for-profit status, which may be provincially or federally granted. Computers for Schools was co-founded in 1993 by Industry Canada and the TelecomPioneers. Over 931,000 computers have been distributed across Canada.