I Am A Student - Beginning A New Trimester

September means the beginning of school.  When I was teaching elementary school, the end of August and beginning of September were consumed with all the tasks of getting the classroom ready.  Bulletin boards were created, class rosters and grade books were completed, lesson plans developed, books unpacked, faculty meetings attended.  I will date myself by mentioning the smell of chalk and new erasers.  All of this was permeated with a sense of newness, hope, and the excitement of a new beginning.

"The more things change, the more they remain the same." September continues to be the beginning of the new school year but now I am attending Learning-in-Retirement Classes in our Omnilore program.  In preparation I went to Staples and bought a new binder to hold all my class materials, I set up folders on my computer to save my softcopy documents and research, I created group distribution lists in my email of the members of my classes, I cracked open the spine of new books we will read and discuss and all this was permeated with a sense of newness, hope, and the excitement of a new beginning.

I am taking two classes this trimester.  One class is a combination science and wellness class.  We are going to study the research being done in the field of medicine that contributes to expanding the "health span" of humans.  It might be considered an anti-aging topic but it has more to do with how to maintain this body so it continues to serve us well and add to the quality of our lives.  We will use the book written by Ray Kurzweil & Terry Grossman entitiled Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever as a springboard for research and discussion. 

In our first session last week one member presented his research on the concept of "Concierge Doctors" and we discussed the challenges of the current medical profession and how to go about being a more informed patient.  I am doing my research for my day of teaching on the topic of "Food Nutrients" and will look at what nutrients our bodies evolved to require, where we can obtain them in our food choices and how the process of aging may result in various deficiencies...such as Vitamin D which is now being recognized as important.

The second course is one in a continuing series of classes I have taken on the topic near and dear to my heart...FOOD!  I am the coordinator of this class so I have more responsibility beyond just one session of teaching.  We had our first class yesterday and the room was filled with 18 enthusiastic food scholars eager to continue our ongoing discussion on the food industry.  We will be reading together Sarah Murray's book Moveable Feats: From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of the Food We Eat.

The first class set the tone for an exciting trimester with Cindy presenting on "Fish: Wild and Farmed" and my presentation on "The Impact of Food Politics."  Members brought numerous recent articles on what is happening in the media on our topic which we discussed, we talked about the first 2 chapters of the book we had read, and we all left class energized and more knowledgeable about making smart food choices.

Gabriel also started school this week, attending his first days of the 4th grade.

Gabe with his "Back to School" haircut - 4th Grade

I spoke to him on the phone after his first day of school and asked him..."What is your teacher's name?"  and "What did you talk about in class today?"  His response..."First let me tell you which of my friends are in my class!"  Obviously, we needed to talk about the most important aspects first!  Ahhhhhh...new beginnings.