Ken Marich
The Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) is in its 20th year of providing SaddleBrooke residents with education courses in a wide spectrum of disciplines. The ILR is a “crown jewel” for lifelong adult education. Our instructors are all SaddleBrooke residents who are willing to share their expertise with our community.
The ILR was founded in 2005, and the first classes were started in 2006. To date, we have offered more than 350 courses taught by over 50 instructors. During the last 20 years, the ILR has offered courses in history, geology, art, science, medicine, literature, music, astronomy, religion, mythology, magic, dinosaurs, water quality, wine appreciation, and many more topics. The ILR currently has more than 1,850 lifetime subscribers (members).
Our current goals are to increase awareness of the SaddleBrooke ILR program and to recruit new instructors to join our faculty. The ILR has two sessions of courses each year, one in the fall and one in the winter/spring. Courses are either three weeks long or five to six weeks in length, depending on the topic. The courses meet for two hours a week. Class size varies between 20 and 50 students, depending on the instructor’s request and the room assignment. No tests, no grades, no papers—just a group of SaddleBrooke residents getting together to learn something new and participate in lively discussion and interaction on topics of interest to its participants. Your knowledge and expertise might be derived from your job, your avocation, or your lifelong passion and could be the basis for a course.
If you are interested in teaching an ILR course, go to the ILR website at sbilr.org. Why not share your knowledge with your community? You don’t need a background in teaching, just the desire to share your knowledge with others. We welcome any SaddleBrooke resident to attend or teach an ILR course. It’s easy to get started. Contact Mel Durchslag, chairman of the Curriculum Development Committee, at [email protected], or for more general info, go to our ILR website at sbilr.org.