Classes suit seniors’ lifestyles

Nancy Garafalo toted some rather unconventional school supplies along to her evening course at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Irvine, where a wine cork propped the door open Thursday. Next to her papers sat a pair of wine glasses and a sampling of cheese and crackers.

Garafalo, a 59-year-old financial manager, is taking “The Wine Experience: How to Enjoy the Elixir of Life,” one of several classes being offered evenings and weekends as part of the institute’s new Boomer Generation Program, hoping to increase her knowledge and enjoyment of the beverage. The class is held at the Woodbridge Village Center in Irvine.

“I feel more comfortable learning with people my age,” she said. “And I’m really impressed with the detail of the information presented and how much material we have covered so far.”

In keeping with the institute’s goal of providing cost-effective, volunteer-based continued learning opportunities to the community, the new program is designed to address the specific needs of boomers as they near and reach retirement.

Besides being more highly educated, this age group differentiates itself from its predecessors because boomers are likely to continue working following retirement, start businesses later in life and support children and aging parents simultaneously, said Gary Matkin, dean of continuing education at UCI, whose department administers the new program.

“We’ve heard for a long time that the baby boomer retirees have different and unique challenges that no other generation has faced, and we want to serve those needs,” Matkin said. “They are not going to buy a Winnebago and retire to the 18th hole of a golf course like the previous generation.”

Geared toward people 50 years and older, the courses range from one to six sessions held in the evening and on weekends to accommodate the schedules of working students.

Presenting both practical and diversionary topics — such as travel sketching, modern grandparenting, and health and wellness — program organizers hope to promote the idea that there are still many new things one can learn in their 50s and 60s.

“We are looking at easing the transition into retirement by presenting programs that are valuable and let baby boomers experience something they haven’t had a chance to do yet because they’ve been too busy with life,” said Lonnie Horn, who chairs the program.

Alvin Glasky, a retired pharmaceutical company president and UCI Regents’ professor, leads the wine appreciation class and enjoys talking about something he loves.

“For those of us who teach, it’s exciting to bring our passion to a particular subject, and the interaction in class is fascinating,” said Glasky, 73. “I get asked a lot of good questions — and I get to drink wine, too.”

Enrollment for the spring semester of the Boomer Generation Program, sponsored by UCI Extension, is still open. Membership to the institute is $70 per semester or $130 for the year. More information is available online at www.extension.uci.edu/olli or bycalling (949) 451-1403.