MVILR heads into 20th Year

The adult learning center, which offers classes such as mahjong, is entering its 20th year of offering classes. From left, clockwise Bonnie Conway of North Utica, Pat Klosek of New Hartford, Mary Jackson of Herkimer and Norma Cutler of New Hartford. (Peter Franchell / Observer-Dispatch)

Nearly two decades ago, when the Mohawk Valley Institute for Learning in Retirement (MVILR) began, the roughly 50 students involved had 20 classes to choose from. Now, in its 20th year of offering academic and special interest classes to senior citizens and retired people of the area, the program boasts more than 400 members and over 80 class options.

A lifelong learning program based at SUNY Poly, there is no age restriction set for students, though they typically range in age from their late 40s to late 90s.

Now entering its 20th year of offering classes, each taught by volunteers, many of the program’s students say they find it to be a great to avoid falling into isolation once they’re out of the workforce.

“I had quit my job and I was just so bored,” Norma Cutler of New Hartford told the Utica Observer Dispatch. Cutler has been playing mahjong and taking other classes through MVILR for at least a dozen years. “This gets me out of the house.”

“When you retire, you need a plan,” Executive Director Ann Maher said in an interview with the OD. “The important thing is to keep your mind and your body active and what better way to do that than to join a lifelong learning program such as ours. It’s also good socializing. You get to meet people who share common interest, make new friends — which is important as you get older.”

That socialization could come in the form of a politics, the history of whiskey, analyzing the works of Alfred Hitchcock, or Integrative Health Care, just to name a few.

“These classes reach all types of people no matter what your situation,” Ginny Rossiter of New Hartford told the newspaper, as she played mahjong with her friends and classmates. “Whether you’re single, married, widowed, it gives an outlet to people who might not otherwise have one.”

Registration for the program’s 20th year kicked off September 12 with classes slated to begin Monday, September 26 and will run until Friday, November 18th.
For more information, visit the MVILR section of SUNY Poly’s website or call 315-792-7192 and check out the Fall catalog of available classes.