Older learners create program for challenging studies

She looked for programs near her Duxbury home, but couldn’t find much. Some colleges offered lifelong learning programs - Cape Cod Community College, Harvard, Tufts, the University of Massachusetts - but they were a long drive away. Closer to home, the Duxbury Council on Aging offered activities like mah-jongg, knitting, bingo, and exercise classes - but not much in terms of scholarly pursuits.

“I’ve been a student all my life. . . . Studying is something I love to do,’’ said Oktay, a former pediatrician and psychiatrist who serves on the board of the Duxbury Council on Aging.

Oktay found herself in good company.

She and other council board members got together in March 2006 and put out a survey asking older residents whether they would be interested in taking courses in art, history, literature, math, music, and religion. Approximately 100 seniors responded to the questionnaire with a resounding “yes.’’

And thus, a few months later, a Lifelong Learning Program was born in Duxbury. By tapping into the local talent and expertise of professors and teachers who live in town, the Duxbury Senior Community Center began offering affordable classes for academically inclined retirees. The inaugural semester kicked off in September 2006 with a trio of eight-week courses: “US History From 1810 to 1850,’’ “Political Currents as Reflected in the New Yorker Magazine,’’ and “Let’s Go to the Opera!’’

The grass-roots program has continued to grow. More courses have been added, covering a range of subjects from Shakespeare to Islam. Last fall, the program won the Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging’s Innovator of the Year Award. It also produced an offshoot program called Steppin’ Out, where the Duxbury COA takes seniors on field trips to Boston Ballet and Boston Lyric Opera performances.

“We have people coming from Plymouth, Marshfield, Kingston’’ to take courses, said Myrna Walsh, who serves on the committee that oversees Duxbury’s Lifelong Learning Program. “They come because there’s nothing like it. It’s a real bargain.’’

The program is geared for “mature learners’’ but is open to people of all ages. The youngest students have been in their 50s; the oldest person to enroll was 94. Participants pay $25 per course. There are no exams. No grades. No pop quizzes. Classes, which run from four to eight weeks, are held weekday mornings at the senior center, and are taught by volunteers, many of whom have stellar credentials.

The fall semester, which kicked off Sept. 21, features an all-star lineup: Berklee College of Music professor Charles Cassara is leading a course called “The Evolution of Jazz Music,’’ and Helene DiBona, who used to teach at the University of North Carolina and the University of California, Berkeley, is teaching a class called “Reading Short Stories.’’ State Representative Daniel K. Webster is teaching a six-week course called “Political Pros and Cons: Voting State Politics,’’ and local historian Patrick Browne, the executive director of the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society, is holding classes on the Mexican-American War.

“We have been unusually lucky to have so many people in our community who can do this, and who are willing to do it,’’ said Oktay, who chairs the Lifelong Learning Program’s curriculum committee. “And the staff has been wonderful,’’ she said, pointing to Duxbury COA director Joanne Moore and assistant COA director Linda Hayes.

Oktay and Duxbury resident Nancy Melia lead a class called “Cultural Clashes in the New Yorker,’’ a weekly group discussion that focuses on recent articles from the magazine. Every seat in the class was filled this semester.

The Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging hopes other communities can look to Duxbury’s Lifelong Learning Program as an example and replicate it.

“The program raises the bar for senior centers across the Commonwealth,’’ said David P. Stevens, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging. “We encourage senior centers to review [Duxbury’s program] and adapt it to their own center’s needs. There’s a generation of older adults out there who are looking for educational opportunities.’’

Stevens said the association is working with the Duxbury Council on Aging and the Executive Office of Elder Affairs to create a comprehensive online directory of educational opportunities for older adults. Stevens said it could be ready to launch by the end of the year.

Until that happens, seniors looking to take classes are often left with one of two choices: contacting their local COA or searching the Internet to find a program on their own.

It’s not that senior centers don’t offer intellectual pursuits. But the offerings vary widely. The Plymouth Council on Aging has a watercolor painting class, computer classes, and a history reading club that is led by an adjunct faculty member from a local college. The Hingham Council on Aging hosts a memoir workshop with author Catherine Goldhammer, who has written two books published by Penguin Group.

Then there’s the Norton Institute for Continuing Education, also known as NICE, a nonprofit organization that holds classes and lectures at Wheaton College, the Norton Public Library, and assisted living facilities such as the Village at Willow Crossings in Mansfield and EPOCH Assisted Living of Norton.

NICE is hosting two free lectures at the Norton Public Library on Oct. 15 and Nov. 19. For details, visit www.nicecourse.org.

Meanwhile, in Duxbury, the Lifelong Learning Program continues to be a hit among the older set. The next semester will begin in February, and registration for classes starts in January. For more information on classes or the Steppin’ Out program, call the Duxbury Council on Aging at 781-934-5774, or stop by the Duxbury Senior Community Center at 10 Mayflower St.

Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com.