All Life is Learning – July 2023
Director's Note and In this issue
Director's Note
Introducing Shannon Huneryager, our newest OLLI at WMU staff person! We are so excited to welcome Shannon to our OLLI community – she has a wonderful background and great ideas for how we can continue to move OLLI forward in ways that benefit our members, WMU, and the Kalamazoo community. Below is a note from Shannon herself:
Hello, OLLI! First and foremost, I am looking forward to meeting you all in the coming months. I’m a born and bred Midwesterner who has lived on both coasts and most recently Chicago. In May, I relocated to Kalamazoo and am thoroughly enjoying the Michigan summer. I have a Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst and enjoy an adventurous career as a musician, actor, and teaching artist. I have traveled for many years performing at venues across the country (39 states and counting!), and my favorite theater roles include Emma Goldman in “Ragtime,” Prudy Pingleton in “Hairspray,” Sonia in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” and Clara Gordon in “Paradise Lost.” I am also a liturgical soloist and have sung with various churches around Chicago. As a Teaching Artist, I have taught with The Old Town School of Folk Music, The Stage School, Play In A Book, and Project AIM (formerly of Columbia College). Teaching artist projects I have worked on include adapting four musicals for the students at The Stage School and writing two play adaptations for young audiences: “Intrépido,” produced by PCPA Theaterfest, and “The Prince and the Pauper,” produced by Shakesperience. I am a proud teaching artist alum of Missoula Children’s Theatre and Columbia College’s TAD Cohort of 2015.
While living in Chicago, I also acquired finance, administration, operations, and change management skills as a certified PMP in the wind energy and healthcare consulting industries. Alongside work and career, I’m outside as much as possible enjoying camping, kayaking, hiking, and biking. My husband and I love to cook and tend our vegetable garden. We also happily spoil our 12-year-old dog (a Dachshund named Neener) and 17-year-old cat (a white American Shorthair named Spot).
It is great to be able to share my variety of experiences with OLLI to support and contribute to our growth and development. You’ll be seeing me meeting and greeting folks before upcoming class sessions through the summer and fall. I’m always up for a cup of coffee and a chat, so feel free to reach out!
In this issue
Curriculum
We have a surprise in the works – in the August newsletter, we will be sharing exciting news about a major addition to the OLLI curriculum (for OLLI members only) starting this fall. We are over-the-moon excited, and we’re sure you will be also. So, make sure to read your August newsletter!
Also, there is still time to register for these OLLI summer courses:
- The Stories Behind the Hit Songs: 1956-1968, Randy Schau – 7/10 – 10 a.m. to Noon
- Taking Better Pictures with your iPhone, Lynne Hall – 7/10, 7/17, 7/24 – 1 to 3 p.m.
- A Walk Around Kalamazoo’s Quietest Neighborhoods, Lynn Houghton – 7/11, 7/18, 7/25 – 10 a.m. to Noon
Course Highlight
We want to share a quick highlight of the recently offered Understanding Anime course. Maybe you have overheard the young people in your life talking about or interacting with anime, or maybe you saw something related to this unique art form on television or social media. OLLI instructor Wayne Bond’s course was an introduction to the art form of anime, how the anime culture has grown within the United States, and how it is broadly viewed by millennials and Gen Zers. Wayne says he had a great time and that he looks forward to teaching for OLLI again next summer. He also took a selfie of himself and our OLLI members who attended the course and sent it to me. Looks like fun!
Thanks, Wayne!
Events
Register Now for Taste of OLLI on August 1
Our third annual Taste of OLLI is fast approaching, so register now! This is your chance to meet our fall instructors and hear about the wide variety of courses we’re offering this upcoming semester. You can also mingle with fellow OLLI members and learn about volunteer opportunities, upcoming trips, and events. Plus, enjoy breakfast pastries and our keynote speaker Mary Jane Mapes, a highly regarded leadership and communication strategist. This popular event is a great way to introduce non-members to all the benefits of joining OLLI as well, so please invite one or two friends to join you – and receive an additional ticket for door prizes! Taste of OLLI is a free event. Join us from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; check-in begins at 8 a.m. Register now!
Kalamazoo Scrabble Fest with the KLC
Celebrate literacy with the Kalamazoo Literacy Council at Kalamazoo Scrabble Fest on Saturday, August 5, from 12 to 3:30 p.m.! Tickets are on sale now for this signature event, which will take place at the Radisson in downtown Kalamazoo. Players from across our community will gather to have fun all while supporting adult literacy, and all proceeds benefit the free programs and services the KLC provides. Your participation as a player will help adults and families obtain the free basic skills they need to reach their full potential – join us! Please register for the Competitive or Just for Fun division at kalamazooliteracy.org/scrabblefest by July 14. Fees are $25 per player and include a T-shirt, hors d'oeuvres, and gaming materials (please select your T-shirt size when you order).
Membership and Marketing
We are excited that we are entering a new OLLI at WMU program year. OLLI's membership year runs from July 1 to June 30, so, unless you renewed when registering for summer classes, your membership expired at the end of June. Do not miss out – renew your membership today if you have not already done so. Renewing is easy! You can go to our website or you can call the OLLI office at (269) 387-4157. Having you as a member makes our OLLI community stronger and more self-sustaining. You are invaluable to us! Plus, everyone who renews their membership before August 1 will be entered into a drawing for theater tickets for the 2023-2024 theater season – so don’t delay!
Travel
As promised, a special guest is scheduled to accompany our travelers on the September 13 trip to Detroit’s Motown Headquarters (affectionately known as “Hitsville U.S.A.”) and the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Who is this special guest, you ask? Well, we are thrilled to announce that Kalamazoo’s very own Caldin (Cal) Street, the lead singer with the Velvelettes, will be on board to share stories and the history of her career in the music industry. This rare opportunity to speak with Cal, learn about the Motown legacy, and hear her personal experiences as a member of the Motown family will no doubt bring this groundbreaking era to life.
Cal will share her personal history with the other members of the Velvelettes, including the co-founder, Bertha Barbee McNeal, who is also a WMU grad. Cal and her singing group won a talent contest on the campus of WMU in 1962. After hearing the group’s performance, a fellow WMU student, Robert Bullock, encouraged the group to audition before his uncle, Mr. Gordy, the visionary founder of Motown Records. And the rest is history! Their biggest chart successes occurred in the mid ‘60s. Their appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 listing opened up opportunities to tour in Europe, perform on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars Tour, and tour throughout the United States. As time moved on, group members changed and pursued other careers. Then in 1985, four of the original Velvelettes reunited. While touring in London, they re-recorded their original hits in 2004. We are grateful to Cal for agreeing to share her life story. We are sure she will fill in some very important details!
Register early for this trip as we anticipate it will be very popular. Also be sure to check out and register for our fun and educational trip to the Lansing area coming up on October 10. See full details on the WMU OLLI Trips webpage.
OLLI in the Community
On May 31, OLLI at WMU participated in the YMCA (Maple Street location) National Senior Health and Fitness Day. Surprisingly, one of our OLLI Advisory Board members and Travel Committee volunteer Marla Williams attended the event and decided to stay and help promote OLLI to those in attendance! We had an opportunity to meet new people who have never heard about OLLI as well as the chance to connect with current OLLI members who were also in attendance.
Thanks, Marla, for spending time with us and sharing the word about OLLI at WMU!
Wellness Moment
Summer’s here and the time is right to ramp up our social lives! I am guilty of being biased in the hierarchy of the eight dimensions of wellness, generally putting the physical dimension at the top because it has such a cascading effect on the rest, as discussed in previous newsletters. Overall well-being is a deep subject that can easily be explored through several lenses. The modern definition of wellness is discussed as a balance of several dimensions or aspects of health. The core dimensions include physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and finally, social health. Some models, like the WMU model included here, include auxiliary dimensions such as financial, environmental, and occupational.
The importance of the social aspect of wellness has gained a lot of respect in the world since we were forced to social distance not too long ago. Social wellness simply refers to the relationships we have with other human beings and the frequency, duration, and quality of our human interactions. It also refers to the effort we put into building meaningful relationships and connecting with those around us. Why is it important? It is the meaningful relationships in our lives that provide our lives with purpose, vigor, and enrichment.
Reflecting on my thirty years at WMU as a student and employee, it is the interpersonal relationships I have been so fortunate to build that connected me to the WMU community and has made it so meaningful. My 80-year-old mother, nicknamed “The Butterfly,” craves social interaction and can befriend anyone at any time. We have a large contingency of members at West Hills that spend more time socializing than they do exercising. When a joke is made at their expense I respond, “social health is important too!” I live in a 55 and up community and the social calendar is ridiculous. There's euchre night, card bingo night, book club, potluck, Friday cocktails on the pool deck, and so on. "We are social animals by nature, so we tend to function better when we're in a community and being around others," after all, notes Dr. Craig Sawchuk, a Mayo Clinic psychologist.
Furthermore, there exist mountains of data concluding that a healthy social life is likely to boost brain health and cognitive function and decrease our risk of dementia. It has been shown to boost the immune system, providing us with another layer of armor when fighting off colds, the flu, and even some forms of cancer. I have included links to two articles and a video for more in-depth reading/viewing, but when I look at the data, and see the cascading effect that social health has on the other aspects including physical, mental, and emotional, the social aspect of wellness had earned a higher slot on the wellness hierarchy. Now get out there and socialize!
What is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute?
The program was initiated under the auspices of the WMU Emeriti Council and WMUx. OLLI offers intellectually lively and culturally appealing learning experiences. We accomplish this by focusing on intellectual stimulation, personal growth, social engagement and enrichment. Read more
What do we do?
We offer short courses for one to four weeks. Sessions are usually two hours long. Travel programs are also a part of our offerings. There are no tests and no required homework, just exploring lots of interesting topics.
In the near future we will offer courses in different formats -- noon hour discussions, several sessions in one week, and more evening courses. OLLI courses and activities are developed and produced by its members with the support of the staff of WMUx.
We need your ideas for course topics and instructors. Let us know your suggestions. Call the OLLI office at (269) 387-4157 or send an email. The curriculum committee will review all suggestions.