For 10 years, LIFE@WesternCarolina has provided people 50 years old and older a chance to further their education while staying connected to their community and strengthening friendships.
LIFE offers two-hour classes once a week and follows WCU’s academic calendar. The lessons don’t include any assignments or tests and topics change every class.
LIFE@WesternCarolina was co-founded by former provost Alison Morrison-Shetlar and Kay Wheeler.
“Alison was new to the university, and I asked her, ‘what are you going to bring to the university that’s new and exciting?’” Wheeler said. “Alison said, ‘I’m thinking of a senior university,’ and I said yes!”
Morrison-Shetlar gathered professors and other supporters to create a managing board and announced Wheeler would be the first president.
“That original board worked so hard for six months. We did mission, bylaws and really got things put in place,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler and other board members marketed LIFE through rotary clubs, libraries and any other way they could think to reach senior citizens.
After gaining enough membership, the next step was to plan the classes. Like other WCU classes, LIFE schedules their classes for the semester before it starts.
Previous classes have covered WCU’s body farm, history of NC railroads, traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, the relationship between NASCAR and moonshine, how to design homes for aging and much more.
“We’ve had some fun topics, and we’ve had some really good diversity in the topics. And that’s the idea to have diversity,” Kay Wheeler, co-founder of LIFE@WesternCarolina, said. “We try to have the diversity that members want to hear about.”
Class topics at LIFE are participant driven. After every class, a form is given to participants to reflect on the lesson, the speaker and to see if there are any other topics they would like to learn about. The forms are given to a curriculum committee that plans each semester’s lessons.
“The bottom of that form asks if you would like to speak about anything. Because we’ve had some of our membership speak,” Wheeler said. “Just recently one of our members spoke on music of the ‘60s.”
A typical class is about an hour and a half of a lesson from the speaker and then a question and answer period, according to Wheeler.
Like many education programs, LIFE struggled during COVID. Classes were abruptly moved to Zoom making them less personal and interactive.
“We’ve still kept the Zoom option, but it doesn’t give the same flavor of being in the room,” Wheeler said.
One of the biggest goals of LIFE@WesternCarolina is to interact with current undergraduate students at WCU.
“We’re people from the ‘60s. We were a very complex generation of young people and social impacts meant a great deal to us,” Wheeler said. “What we see is that it’s happening again. We want to support, mentor and discuss with people of the younger generation.”
Participants of LIFE feel they have a lot to offer younger people. They also feel that younger people have a lot to offer them. Most importantly, members of LIFE offer a lot for each other.
“A part of LIFE is social interaction,” Wheeler said. “There’s this perception that seniors can get lonely. Well, we’re not getting lonely.”
According to Wheeler, there are about 50-75 members this year, the largest group since the program began at WCU.
“The makeup of our students ranges from dental hygienists to nurses to lawyers, past university professors, a couple doctors, a couple nurse practitioners, a couple high school teachers, a pharmacist,” Wheeler said. “We have a really diverse group.”
Classes begin at 10 a.m. but members show up as early as 9 a.m. to talk before the lesson. Upon entering, there are name tags for all the members, but they are not necessary as everyone greets each other by name with a smile.
Brittany Marshall, assistant director of educational outreach, is at every class. She’s helped with LIFE@WesternCarolina since 2016. She’s seen how important the weekly classes can be for members.
“Several join after their spouse passes or a tragedy. It gets them out of the house,” Marshall said. “One woman shared it got her out of a depression after her husband died.”
Members said lessons have never disappointed. Often the lessons you expect the least from are the ones that engage the most.
Mike Gillen is the current president at LIFE. He also served as president in 2020. He felt an obligation to give back to the program as it had done so much for him.
“When you think it might be easier to stay home, you miss the most interesting lessons,” Gillen said.
The question-and-answer sessions lead to beneficial discussions about different topics. This is especially effective in the smaller program.
Joe Buranosky joined LIFE@WesternCarolina after moving from Florida where he was in a different LIFE program.
At the previous LIFE program, Buranosky said there was a waiting list for the large group. At WCU, the group is smaller and the discussions are more effective.
Buranosky had looked for a LIFE program when he moved in 2019. He served as president last year.
“I wanted to get involved and continue my education,” Buranosky said. “It’s important to continue learning.”
According to Wheeler, the biggest goal next year for LIFE@WesternCarolina is to increase engagement with undergraduate WCU students.
LIFE@WesternCarolina is always looking for new members. Anyone 50 years or older can join at wcu.edu/engage/professional-enrichment/LifeAtWesternCarolina.
