If you walk outside your classroom on a Friday afternoon, it’s likely that you’ll see groups of elderly people in the hallway. No, these senior citizens are not on campus to visit their grandchildren. Instead, these retirees come to Sacramento State for the same reason younger students do.

The Renaissance Society is a 12-week center for learning in retirement that allows retirees to gather on-campus every Friday and off-campus other days of the week. It is a program in which its members learn from each other. Every week, each individual shares his or her knowledge or personal experience of a selected subject. This allows each member to have several teachers rather than one.

“The society is great,” said 60-year-old Ellison Cowles, a former criminal justice professor and a member of the program for a year. “It is a wonderful opportunity for retired people to meet other retired people with similar interests,” she said.

The Renaissance Society started in 1986 with only four seminars. This fall, 37 will be conducted – 20 of which take place on-campus. The program includes seminars such as The Original Very Beginning Spanish Class, Movie Comedies, Shakespeare, Watercolor Workshop and Writing Personal Histories. Off-campus seminars include Travel Through Food, Singing for Fun and Digital Cameras. In addition, walks, tours and excursions are offered to those who wish to be more physically active outside of the classroom.

One seminar that has been popular since the start of The Renaissance Society is Cracker Barrel. It is described as a free-wheeling, spontaneous lunch-time discussion.

No registration is required for this seminar, so Sac State students are encouraged to participate. The discussion begins at 11 a.m. every Friday and ends at 12:30 p.m. in Mendocino Hall, room 1020.

“What the founders found is alive and well ?” and growing,” Cowles said. She currently attends two classes – Travel and Adventure and Bach to Beethoven to Brahms.

Renaissance Society Vice President Harriette Work agreed with Cowles.

“The program started 20 years ago with just 25 to 50 members,” Work said. Last year the society had over 900 members.

“We just had our 20th anniversary in April,” Work said.

She explained that one reason the society has been doing fairly well for so many years is because Sac State has been very supportive. Most of the space being used by the program is provided by the university.

Because few classes are conducted on Fridays, it is the ideal time for the Renaissance Society to meet and use the unused space.

The program is open to anyone who would like to participate. However, it is generally for retired people.

There are no requirements or restrictions for joining the society. All that is required is a membership fee of $60 which will pay for two semesters.

Its members can also use the university’s library for an additional $5 and are given free parking on Fridays.

According to Cowles, the Renaissance Society is not just a place where retirees come to hold group meetings.

Rather, it is a place where older people can gain intellectual stimulation once again by learning from each other and experiencing things that they never had the chance of doing in the past. Though the society offers many things, Work explained that being on campus is the highlight of the program. “It’s a nice experience to be with students on campus,” Work said.

For more information about the Renaissance Society, call (916) 278-7834.

Olivia Gray can be reached at [email protected]