Three robbed off campus in separate incidents

Reba Richardson is not nervous about what is going to be on her upcoming midterm -- although she studies at least as much as the rest of her classmates. Richardson will not be stopping you on Locust Walk to ask for directions to this weekend's parties -- she is asleep before most ever get going. Somewhere "in the neighborhood of 90," Richardson may well be Penn's oldest student. But right here, right now -- in class -- Richardson is having the time of her life. Richardson is one of about 340 retired senior citizens from the Philadelphia area who attend classes at Penn each week as part of the Senior Associates program, sitting alongside undergraduates in the University's most popular lecture courses. And though she won't tell you her exact age, what Richardson will tell you is this: "I love reading. I love books. I love the classroom," the retired school teacher says, excitement building in her voice. "I love school." Phil Edelson has a similar story. Classes have filled the majority of the retiree's days and at 71, he loves doing his homework. "I do all the reading although I don't write papers or take the exam," Edelson said, estimating that he spends upwards of 20 hours a week to prepare for his courses. "And I participate in class," he adds, breaking into a soft smile. While illness and loneliness tarnish many seniors' golden years, Richardson, Edelson and the rest of the Senior Associates are not heading to the sedentary life of rocking chairs. Instead, they are making their way to the front row seats of History class. Founded almost 20 years ago, the Senior Associates program began as a way for mainly female, retired Philadelphia schoolteachers to remain active and keep learning. Over the years, though, it has grown to include more men and retired professionals -- including former doctors, lawyers, scientists and even Penn faculty. According to College of General Studies Assistant Dean Monique Bourque, who coordinates the Senior Associates program with the Penn Institute on Aging, senior citizen enrollment at Penn has been rising at a rate of nearly 50 students per year -- a reflection of a nationwide trend. As America's population grays, more colleges and universities are offering opportunities for seniors to go back to school. Certainly, widespread programs like Elderhostel -- which provides residential-based social and learning opportunities for senior citizens -- have been around for years. But now Philadelphia-area schools such as Temple University, Villanova University and Bryn Mawr College are sponsoring classes ranging from comparative literature to ballroom dancing. And even Ivy League peer institutions like Harvard and Brown universities offer classes specifically geared for retirees. But according to Bourque, Penn's Senior Associate program is unique in its approach: Instead of separating the senior citizens in their own self-administered program, Penn mainstreams them into regular undergraduate classes taught by standing faculty. Most Senior Associates generally audit one or two School of Arts and Sciences classes offered in subjects like Anthropology, Art History, English, History and Jewish Studies. "It's better for the senior citizens. They get a lot more out of it," Bourque said. "They don't want to be babied, they don't want to be condescended to. They want to work hard and think hard with the best undergraduates." Indeed, what comes through above all with this group of senior citizens is a relentless desire to learn, a refusal to bow to the pressures of age and an eager spirit to explore the present that refutes any notion they are stuck in the past. Without a doubt, these are the students any professor would love to teach -- they arrive to class on time, do all their reading and are always ready to be called upon. "The seniors I have in my lecture classes have been uniformly wonderful," History Professor Walter McDougall said. "They have been courteous and deferential, even though I feel sometimes a little embarrassed that I am pontificating on things they themselves lived through." And English Professor Peter Stallybrass, who teaches a popular introductory Shakespeare course, said that the Senior Associates in his classes keep him on his toes. "They know the plays really well," Stallybrass noted. "Some have been studying them for over 40 years." For most Senior Associates, the trip to class each day is no easy chore -- it takes a lot more time and effort than it used to. The chance to reconnect to their past and to study subjects that focus on the world in which they were raised is part of what draws them in. But the opportunity to continue learning about the present from the readings, the professor and even the undergraduates is what keeps them coming back each week. "I love going to class," Senior Associate Edna Green said. "I like to hear the wealth of information. And the students are so bright. Some of them astound me." "And they treat the seniors with respect and courtesy. They turn to us, speak to us and include us in the discussion," Richardson added. "I would like to speak to their parents and tell them they have done a great job." Although the Senior Associates are told not to dominate classroom discussions, some of them admit to jumping at the chance to voice their own opinions. Often, they can add insight from personal experience. "The Vietnam War was history. The Second World War was ancient history," Edelson said. "Having worldly experience and not needing the grade, I can bring up another point of view." In fact, Edelson recalled how in one American History recitation, he shared his own experiences during the 1930s, bringing the Great Depression to life for his younger classmates. "I bring experience, a more judicious point of view and a conservatism, that one must look at the practical as well as ideal," he said. "I am amazed by how much [the students] know and don't know." It is this exchange, one that spans generations, that brought Edelson to the Senior Associates program almost 10 years ago. Shortly after retiring from a kitchen-appliance business, he heard about the Senior Associates program from a friend and decided to take a Middle East history course. "I was hooked," said Edelson, who is now president of the Senior Associate's steering committee. "The professor was interesting, the class was good and I have been taking two courses a semester ever since." While most freshman courses, graduate-level seminars and Wharton classes are off-limits to the Senior Associates, some professors have allowed the seniors to join those sections. The program is just one way for seniors to learn new skills and stay on top of the times. Green, for example, said she first went online a few years ago to learn how to navigate the Internet and access her e-mail so that she could join in on a class listserv discussion. And recently, she picked up HTML programming so she could become the webmaster of a University-sponsored site on aging. Green is just one example of how the Senior Associates program offers a number of life-long learning opportunities outside the classroom. Some of the senior citizens do hands-on research for Penn professors. Others lend a hand around campus through the Senior Associates Very Valuable Years program, SAVVY. SAVVY volunteers help out at the University Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art and some University academic and administrative departments. And many of the seniors attend a semesterly lunch and lecture series, where well-regarded faculty are invited to address the larger Senior Associates group. But for all the Senior Associates get out of the program, they also give back. Besides volunteering through SAVVY, the seniors donate their entire $50 registration fee to support the Senior Associates Scholarship fund, which sponsors around 10 adults pursuing a bachelor's degree from CGS each year. And some say just seeing them in class with undergraduates who could be their grandchildren makes an even more important statement. "Even when the Senior Associates are not active in a course, the fact that they are there and are a physical presence on campus provide living examples of the importance and viability of life-long-learning," Bourque said. "They force me to re-examine my assumptions about aging, learning and about students all the time." As McDougall points out, the Senior Associates have a lesson of their own to teach. "You only get to go to college once," he said. "All of the sudden your four years are over and you have lost your opportunity to take a course in music, drama or literature." That, Green says, is exactly what brings the Senior Associates back to class. "You've got to live in today's world. If you stop learning, you stop living."

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