Free seminar series open to the public

By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

School bells will soon be ringing in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. The Erickson Center for Continuous Learning will kick off its newest chapter of continuing education centers for adults at Wind Crest this month.

A series of free education enrichment programs begin on February 20 with a seminar on preserving family stories and histories. That will be followed up by future classes on wine appreciation, current events, and consumer fraud.

“There’s something here for everybody,” Molly Thorne Dhieux, retirement counselor for Wind Crest said of the offerings. “It’s a great opportunity for those who have that learning bug or just want to keep their mind active.”

A center for great ideas
The Center for Continuous Learning was developed as part of founder and CEO John Erickson’s vision to provide a meaningful, valuable, lifetime learning experience to people during retirement.

“They are just so very well done,” Dorcas Doering of Overland Park, Kansas said of the seminars she took at the Erickson community planned to open near her home. Doering spent years organizing similar adulteducation programs for nonprofit organizations. She and her husband Paul were so impressed with the Center for Continuous Learning that she attended three events in one semester. “You learn a lot,” she said. “And it’s great to keep your mind busy. After all, an active mind is a growing mind.”

Growing involvement
Doering’s attitude is a popular one. Participation in adult education has steadily increased over the past three decades according to the surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent study estimated that over 13 million Americans participate in some sort of adult education program.