Learning for a Lifetime



After 79-year-old Carol Robert and her husband moved from Michigan to San Diego six years ago, she quickly realized she needed something to do. “As much as we like to see our friends and family, there are still plenty of hours in the day,” she says. Then a newspaper blurb tipped her off to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

Roberts attended lectures geared toward her interests, such as art history, and branched out to subjects she wasn’t as familiar with, like astronomy, which she now loves. “This gives me a way to learn a little bit about a lot of things,” she says. Roberts has also worked her way up the Osher ladder. She’s now on the executive committee and is vice president of planning, which lets her put the talents she garnered as operator of a high-end tour business to further use. She organizes highly anticipated field trips that coincide with the curriculum. Think visiting a Jasper Johns exhibit after an art history lecture and walking tours that accompany in-depth lectures about local neighborhoods. Roberts also enjoys Osher’s social aspect. Meeting people from all over with different talents and interests is part of the experience. She and the other Osher members learn for the sake of learning and take on some challenging subject matter. Past lectures include “International Legitimacy Lost? Global Order in the Age of ‘America First,’” “Gender Sidelining and the Problem of Unactionable Discrimination,” and “When Tiki Invaded San Diego.” Lectures are also available in video form.

For Roberts, her love of learning has come full circle. Now her children ask her the same question she used to ask them: “Are you going to be late to school?” Not likely anytime soon. “I don’t see any end to my learning,” she says.

Learn more about Osher Lifelong Learning on our website.



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