{"id":31721,"date":"2024-04-30T15:11:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T19:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=31721"},"modified":"2024-05-02T09:06:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:06:39","slug":"olli-senior-leaders-greenville-prepares-for-10th-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/olli-senior-leaders-greenville-prepares-for-10th-class\/","title":{"rendered":"OLLI Senior Leaders Greenville prepares for 10th class"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Tom and Linda Nowlin were looking to move from Savannah, Georgia, 12 years ago, they were attracted by what Greenville, South Carolina, had to offer \u2013 a thriving downtown, changing seasons and proximity to the mountains.<\/p>\n

Also attractive was the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, or OLLI<\/a>, at Furman University, which offers people 50 and older opportunities for lifelong education, social engagement and community involvement, said Tom Nowlin, a retired sales and marketing executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course offerings are just unbelievable,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd there are also a number of bonus events, where you\u2019re able to go out and visit various places.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the 10th<\/sup> year, OLLI is gearing up for its Senior Leaders Greenville class<\/a>, which, much like Leadership Greenville, offers participants a deep dive into issues facing the community and how they affect seniors.<\/p>\n

The Senior Leaders Greenville class will meet monthly from August to April, sometimes on Furman’s campus and other times in the community, said Nancy Kennedy, OLLI director.\u00a0 Applications are available online and will be accepted through June 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one class each academic year, and they meet monthly for a full day to look at issues \u2026 such as medical care and why there are not enough geriatricians and what that means for seniors,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Other issues have included the history of the area and the psychology of aging, she said, adding they conclude by looking for solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are taking that knowledge into everyday life,\u201d she said. \u201cSome learn about programs that they want to volunteer for with this background. It makes for a more informed citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some participants are long-time Greenville residents, she said, while others are recent transplants who want to learn more about their community.<\/p>\n

Nowlin, 74, was part of the first Senior Leaders class.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re able to get together with like-minded individuals focused on making a difference in the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Among the projects they\u2019ve tackled are identifying opportunities to expand child care, which is \u201ca huge challenge\u201d in Greenville, and chronic homelessness, he said, noting members raised money for an apartment complex scheduled to open later this year.<\/p>\n

Still another revolved around the public transportation system, he said. So, participants rode bus routes to get a better understanding of the challenges and to see if they could make a difference, proposing different schedules, for example, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year, there\u2019s a different group \u2026 that comes in and presents to Senior Leaders,\u201d he said \u201cAnd we\u2019re able to come in and say, \u2018We have these resources. How can we help?\u201d<\/p>\n

Both OLLI and Senior Leaders provide Furman with considerable outreach, benefiting the university, the seniors and the community, Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Members love being around students, who help them fine tune their research and presentation skills, and provide diversity, she added.<\/p>\n

Nowlin said that from the psychology of spirituality to a Chinese cooking class, he and his wife feel blessed to be involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cOLLI\u2019s been great for me,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need to make sure you\u2019re going to retire to something meaningful and OLLI provides that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senior Leaders Greenville classes take on issues facing the community, such as transportation and geriatric medical care, and devise solutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":31723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[437],"class_list":["post-31721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olli-at-furman","tag-olli"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}