Attendance up 54% from last year

By Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

When Marge Wyngaarden established the Elderhostel-affiliated Institute for Learning in Retirement (IRL) at Cedar Crest, she didn’t expect the amount of growth it would garner—a whopping 54% from fall 2006 to spring 2007.

With classes starting mid-September, Wyngaarden prepares for yet another growth spurt. “Because more and more people show interest each semester, and I have to line up the instructors,” she says.

But she isn’t too worried. She finds most of her talent right at Cedar Crest.

“There’s tremendous talent here,” Wyngaarden says. “The overwhelming majority of instructors are residents. In fact, 22 of the 34 instructors live at Cedar Crest and seven work here.”

Classes start mid-September and cover a broad range of topics—from music education and writing workshops to “Backstage at the Met” and forensic science. Elderhostel at Cedar Crest offers 37 courses in all, as some instructors teach multiple classes.

Wyngaarden says people have been asking her nonstop about the fall schedule since June. Registration started in late July and will continue through September. From the beginning, Cedar Crest has offered Elderhostel courses at no charge for tuition per class. Only a membership fee of $25 is required each semester, and a person may take as many courses as he or she pleases.

Most Elderhostel programs are held at college affiliates, which typically charge a modest fee. But at Cedar Crest, instructors volunteer their time and the community provides office space, classrooms, and equipment.

Free tuition helps Cedar Crest attain the goal of the programming. As stated on the front page of the schedule, the program aims to “offer people the opportunity to define and pursue their own informal educational goals, at their own pace, and according to their own choices and talents.”