According to the Hingham School District website, the course is designed for beginners and focuses on maximizing the benefits of digital cameras. Course topics include pixels, resolution, and storage media; battery systems; downloading techniques, menus, and settings; creating photographs; printing options; image editing; and the relationship between a digital camera and a computer.
The course on Microsoft Word was similarly productive, O’Malley says. It was directed by Doreen Field, currently a teacher at Hingham High School, and featured instruction in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and integrating applications to facilitate office tasks.
“I teach a class through Mass Literacy in Norwood one night a week and I do a lot of papers on my computer,” O’Malley says. “I wanted my papers to look more interesting. Besides, you can always learn something new about computers.”
Refresher course
Ellen McTammany has lived at Linden Ponds for the past two years with her husband and recently completed a continuing education class in conversational Spanish. She says she used the course as a refresher for previously learned skills.
“I majored in Spanish at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisc., many years ago, but it has been a long time since I studied the language,” McTammany says.
The Spanish course was taught by Peggy Kerr of Hingham and, according to the Hingham website, included instruction in basic pronunciation, simple grammatical concepts, oral practices, and vocabulary. McTammany says the course was “a challenge.”
“Classes were held on Mondays for 90 minutes and it was pretty extensive,” McTammany says. “Peggy is an extremely good teacher, but the course was difficult and at times I felt overwhelmed. Eventually, most of what I had already learned in Spanish came back to me.”
McTammany says she resumed her academic endeavors for altruistic reasons. “I’ve heard that churches in this area want people to teach Spanish-speaking people how to speak English,” she says. “I know you can’t teach English to Spanish-speaking people without knowing Spanish yourself, so this was a chance for me to brush up on my Spanish.”
McTammany, who has worked in the jewelry industry for the past two decades, says she looks forward to taking other continuing education classes at Linden Ponds in the future.
“I’d like to do this again in the future if I have time,” she says. “Right now, with my jewelry business and playing the piano, it’s hard to find time to do other things.”
Life on campus
O’Malley and McTammany both say they thoroughly enjoy living at Linden Ponds.
“My husband and I love living here,” McTammany says. “The staff is terrific and the new clubhouse is amazing.”
“It was a very good move for me,” O’Malley says. “I lived in a condominium before I moved here and it’s really a ‘no-care’ type of life. It’s so easy living here. I just call when I need to have something done.”
In other words, it’s as easy as A-B-C.