Fall Semester Starts

Next Week!

We are so excited to start our 44th semester of Encore Learning classes! Registration is ongoing with classes running through mid December. Check out our Courses page for the calendar view, grid view, a PDF, link to Course Preview videos and more.

Reminders For Fall Courses

We’re looking forward to seeing you in class, either in-person or virtually, soon! You will receive a reminder email with more information two days before your class begins, but in the meantime, here are a few tips and reminders to help you prepare:

In-Person Course Locations: All class locations, including room numbers, can be found in the course description. All courses at GMU will be held in Van Metre Hall at the Mason Square Campus in Arlington. Paid parking is available in an attached garage accessed off of Kirkwood Boulevard. Parking for two hours is $9.00. There are nearby parking meters as well.

Zoom Login Information for Virtual Courses: All Zoom login information has been uploaded to your member account and can be found in your class media. You will use the same login information for all class sessions, so we recommend saving the login information to your desktop. For tips on using Zoom, see these resources.

Class Media: Please see below for details on our new Class Media system.

We are also recording some select courses. Based on positive feedback from our spring 2024 pilot, Encore Learning will record a select number of courses during the fall term. Links to recorded course sessions will be available to registered participants within two business days after each class session. Registered participants will have access to the recordings, to view on their own time, until February 28, 2025. Click here for a list of recorded classes.

Please note that the recordings are provided for convenience and to accommodate any scheduling conflicts. They are not intended to replace the benefits of attending in real time, where you can ask questions and participate in discussions. You must be registered for the course to have access to the recording.

Inclement Weather and Other Policies: Please see this link for more information.

Still trying to decide which courses to take? Consider these compelling options which begin in October and have space available!

Justice, Public Safety, and Reentry

This class provides an introduction to the criminal legal system, focusing on public safety, justice, and reentry, including the Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR) movement, which aims to support those impacted by the legal system and dismantle systemic racism. Participants will engage with key officials from local law enforcement and legal offices, explore issues of racial disparities and collateral consequences, and culminate in a two-hour in-person field trip to the OAR office and detention facility. (Begins 10/10)

Align Your Money With Your Values

This course offers interactive sessions for environmentally conscious investors, teaching how to redirect your financial resources—such as bank deposits, credit cards, and insurance—away from fossil fuel industries and toward local businesses and renewable energy initiatives. Participants will learn to choose community banks, alternative credit cards, sustainable insurance options, and eco-friendly investment strategies. (Begins 10/3)

Understanding the Encore Years

This course is designed for individuals aged 50 to 75, covering essential topics for navigating the “Encore Years.” Through seven interactive sessions, participants will redefine aging, leverage personal strengths, craft meaningful plans, explore happiness, discuss faith, and prioritize brain health and wellness. (Begins 10/8)

Future Science: The US Quest to Define and Anticipate What Comes Next

This class examines how cultural movements, scientific advancements, and technological changes, particularly in the U.S., influence our perceptions of the future as a concept to control and predict. It explores the societal obsession with the future, the emergence of a “future industry,” and the contrasting visions presented by various thinkers, helping us better understand our current selves. (Begins 10/25)

Plus many more!

Encore Learning Presents

Over the past month or so we’ve been fortunate to enjoy three lectures arranged by the Special Events Committee. These included Alonzo Wind on his book A Jew in Gaza: Humanitarian Assistance, Hubris and Horrors, Dr. James Grefer on Fixing Social Security for the Long Run (our first hybrid event!), and Chuck Rosenberg with a Q&A session on issues affecting us all.

Thank you to all who attended and to those who provided feedback.

Coming Soon:

The Attack on Public Education

Rob Boston, Senior Advisor at Americans United for Separation of Church and State; will speak about the current threats to public education. We hope you can join us on Monday, September 30, at 3:00 PM for this virtual event. Click on the title or image for more details.

Watergate’s Unexpected Hero by Author Larry Spinelli

On Monday, October 21, Dr. Lawrence Spinelli will discuss his book on the life of Peter W. Rodino Jr. His book tells the story of a legislator whom Washington commentators assumed would cower under national scrutiny. Instead, his calm, assured demeanor during the televised Watergate proceedings served to fortify an uncertain nation. Mr. Rodino was a relatively unknown congressman from New Jersey who was Chair of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate period. He established the gold standard for presidential impeachment in holding President Richard M. Nixon accountable for his crimes.

Thank you to all the members, new and old, for joining us. And, as always, thanks go to our wonderful volunteers who made this event successful! More than 20 volunteers helped make this event a success.

-Open House photos courtesy of member volunteer Linda Shapiro

We are currently seeking volunteers for a variety of roles:

• Developing strategies to diversify our membership and ensure we are inclusive
• Planning academic courses or Special Events
• Joining a newly forming Public Relations/Marketing committee

If any of these opportunities are of interest to you, please visit our Volunteer page or send an email to info@encorelearning.net.

Please email the Encore Learning office if you are interested in joining any of our clubs or would like more information. You can also visit our Clubs page on our website.

New Club – Electric Vehicle

The Electric Vehicle Club will initially meet monthly on Zoom to discuss electric vehicles. Potential topics will be by lecture, videos or discussion and may include purchasing, features, problems, personal experiences, charging, new cars, features, future directions and open discussions. As this is a new club the meeting format and topics may change as decided by the members.

The leader is Barry H Ginsberg, btg100@gmail.com, (201) 665-9467.

Chamber Music Club

Welcome to the second season of the Encore Learning Chamber Music Club.

The club meets every first and second Friday of the month, from October through May, to hear chamber concerts sponsored by the Friday Morning Music Club, a venerable institution dating to 1886. That’s not a typo.

The musicians are superb and the programming, diverse and interesting.

The 1-hour concerts start at noon, making lunch or coffee with other Encore Learning members afterwards attractive. The October concerts are on October 4 and 11.

The venue is St. George’s Episcopal Church, 915 N. Oakland St., adjacent to the Virginia Square Metro station. For those who drive, the church has a small parking lot. On-street parking is available as well.

Please contact the office if you wish to join. – Rhoda Ritzenberg, Coordinator

Global Lunch Club

Our member volunteer coordinator is working on getting this club started and will be sending out details soon. Bon Appetit!

Cinema Club

The Cinema Club has been busy enjoying monthly movies on weekday mornings – with lunch and discussion afterwards. The next meeting is planned for Wednesday, October 16. Film to be determined when showtimes are announced. -Dru Dowdy and Caroline Wooden. Photo by Iver Cooper.

Travel Club

The Travel Club will next meet on October 18 at 3:30 PM. Linda and Steve Shapiro will discuss their recent summer travel. They spent the first week of July on a Rhine River cruise from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam. They then spent the following week touring Amsterdam on their own. This trip involved sites in Switzerland, France, Germany and The Netherlands. Please contact the office if you’d like to join the Travel Club – we hope to see you virtually!

-Charlie Hallahan, co-Coordinator

Mindfulness Club

Almost every Wednesday of the year, at Noon, the Encore Learning Mindfulness Club meets for discussion, about 20 minutes of guided meditation, and general sociability. Participants come as schedules allow or as the need for a quiet or contemplative period arises. The meditation period is not exotic; we generally take about 10 minutes to get centered in the moment, and the rest of the meditation period exploring what arises in the insight tradition. We often discuss resources (online, published, in person) which are available, usually at minimal expense.

If you wish to be added to our email group which gives meeting access information, please contact the Encore Learning office.

-Dwight Rodgers, Coordinator

Nonfiction Book Club

The Encore Learning Nonfiction Book Club will meet next on November 12 at 1:30 PM in the Arlington Central library. Club members have chosen to read and discuss the following book: Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt’s Ancient Temples from Destruction by Lynne Olson. The book tells the remarkable story of the intrepid French archaeologist, Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, who led the international effort to save ancient Egyptian temples from the floodwaters of the Aswan Dam. Without her efforts, a dozen temples, including the Temple of Dendur, now at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, would currently be at the bottom of a vast reservoir. The meeting is open to all Encore Learning members. If you’re interested in joining the book club, tell the office, and we’ll add your name to the mailing list. (Note: the meeting is being held on a Tuesday, because the second Monday of the month, November 11, when we would typically meet, is a holiday.) – Ed Rader, Co-coordinator

Kayak Club

The Kayak Club will be ending it’s season in October. The club meets at Fletcher’s Boathouse off Canal Road in DC at 11:00 AM on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month, weather permitting. If you are interested in joining the club, please sign up through the Encore Learning office staff.

Tech Hobbyist Club

The Tech-Hobbyist Club will have its October lecture on Monday, October 14 at 10:00 AM by Linda Shapiro. Her lecture is entitled “Linda’s Everyday Tech Tips.” All Encore Learning members are invited.

The link to join is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87045265665?pwd=RDVCcjJMeFNYb1V2bkRrMVVKZHdaZz09

Meeting ID: 870 4526 5665

Passcode: tech

Lots of fun activities are planned on the Plaza at Mason Square. Go to https://ularlington.gmu.edu/plaza/ for details about Fall programming. Events are free and open to the public.

Volunteer for Arlington’s Community Ambassador Program!

Arlington Neighborhood Village (ANV), in partnership with Arlington County and Marymount University, has started the Community Ambassador Program (CAP). CAP is a volunteer fueled system that identifies “Ambassadors” connected with civic associations, faith communities, senior centers, apartment buildings, etc. These individuals will be trained to be a reliable source of information about the many opportunities available to older adults in Arlington.

Ambassadors will spread the word about programs and support services, opportunities for social and civic engagement, and educational and enrichment activities for older adults in their own neighborhoods. They are actively recruiting ambassadors to act as a bridge between their

community and the Arlington safety net, providing information and soliciting feedback to improve offerings that help older adults remain safe, independent, engaged, and connected to their community.

Contact cap@anvarlington.org if this is something you are interested in or want to learn more. Let’s work together to create a supported and connected community for all ages!

Receive Support Services

Are you a senior in Arlington? Do you need support services but don’t know where to look? Are you looking for fun and enriching activities in Arlington? Email or call us at 703-509-8057 and we will connect you with an Ambassador!

Do you need to confirm your voting location?

Do you have questions about a mail ballot?

Arlington residents may obtain information about the upcoming general election here: https://vote.arlingtonva.gov/Elections

September has been so busy and exciting. We started with the Fall 2024 Course Preview on September 5. We had over 200 people join us online that morning and then the next day all of the preview videos were available on our YouTube channel, so folks could watch what they missed or discover something new. Then the drum roll of registration happened promptly at 10:00 AM on Monday, September 9. We believe this was one of our smoothest registrations as we had very few questions that morning and had almost no waitlists. At this time we have nearly 1,000 registrations which puts us on track to meet our goals. We still have hundreds of seats open in classes. A class may have a capacity for 40, and at this time only 20 signed up. So if you have a friend or neighbor who may be interested in Encore Learning now is the time to sign-up.

We held a wonderful Open House and Campus Welcome on September 19. With club information tables and informational workshops members were able to get geared up for the year ahead. For some members it was their first time on campus and they learned about where to park and how to get connected to WIFI. We love meeting you in-person and we hope to offer this event once each year.

Be ready for your classes: update your calendar, watch for the reminder that comes two days before class, then save your Zoom login information, and review the Class Media.

We look forward to seeing you online or in the classroom.

~ Lora 

Lora Pollari-Welbes

Executive Director

During July and August 2024, we welcomed the following new members, including many new instructors:

Spread the word and please refer friends and family to Encore Learning. If you’d like to bring Encore Learning into your community (residential building or neighborhood) to share information about membership, let us know.

Encore Learning is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Any donation is a charitable contribution deductible from income tax to the full extent permitted by law. Members, friends and organizations wishing to support Encore Learning may direct contributions to our General Fund to support our sustainability or to the Arthur W. Gosling Youth Scholarship Fund. If you wish to designate a charitable gift in someone’s honor or memory, please email us indicating how the gift should be recognized. If you would like to discuss tax benefits of charitable giving and charitable remainder trusts, please view our Donate page or contact the office.

We hope you enjoyed this edition of The Inside Scoop. If you would like to submit an article or share some photos of members participating in Encore Learning activities, please email us at info@encorelearning.net.

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