Introduction
Like three of the four founders of Bard LLI, Sara Hardman had recently moved to the area. She worried that there would be no cultural life. Little did she know! In her first week in her new home, she called the Red Hook Library hoping to find a book group. She found “an incredible book group” full of interesting and accomplished people. She and several others also tried to join the Marist Center for Lifetime Study, only to find a years’ long waiting list.
They were not discouraged. At the suggestion of Sylvia Erber, they decided to start their own Lifelong Learning Institute. Sara said, “We had this great idea. Everyone we talked to about it was excited. . . . The path just opened up. I don’t remember any hurdles.” It’s hard to imagine it was that simple and, in fact, a lot of work went into developing the program.
"Sounds Like a Great Idea, Try It"
The first step was gathering information. Joan and Jonah Sherman, the founders of the Marist College Center for Lifetime Study, were generous with their advice, outlining what the new venture would need and strongly recommending the program locate on a college campus. To that end, Jonah introduced them to Dean Stuart Strizler-Levine at Bard.
Sara remembers, “I don’t think Stuart ever said no to any of our ideas. He would always respond, ‘Sounds like a great idea. Try it.’” As the project developed, the group learned what a boon it was to have Bard’s sponsorship. “We never had to create our own tax-exempt organization, Bard handled our finances and provided us the space and technology we needed for classes.”
Drawing on Our Strengths
Sara had experience developing programs. As a New York City teacher, she developed the Program for International Studies for NYC’s District 2. As the mother of two adopted children, she was the co-president of Adoptive Parents—Westchester, an advocacy and support organization. She authored a book, If I Love My Kid Enough: The Reality of Raising An Adopted Child. This background informed the approach the group took to starting LLI. They asked many people for advice and guidance. Elderhostel (now Road Scholar) provided copies of bylaws and structures from several groups, making it easier to formulate Bard LLI’s structure and bylaws. Once the organizing got underway it was clear that there were several key roles: Curriculum, a vital interest of history buff Josette Lee’s; Publicity, Carol Lee’s career and forte; and Administration, an area Sara’s experience made her comfortable with. “That’s how I got to be President,” Sara says.
A Runaway Success
LLI opened with just four classes, a kind of trial run. It grew very quickly. “We kept having to increase the limits on our membership. We started at 100, then quickly went to 125 and up from there. People were so excited to teach classes. We had so many people teaching we couldn’t give them free memberships so we gave them bagels instead,” Sara laughed.
Early on there were monthly salon meetings to introduce members to each other and discuss important issues. Sara believes strongly in LLI’s mission to provide opportunities for members to socialize with each other. The coronavirus pandemic has made that more difficult but the vibrant discussions in our fall Zoom classes make it clear we agree with her.
Along the way there certainly were some ideas that didn’t work despite Dean Levine’s encouraging attitude. “We had an idea of building senior housing on the Bard campus. We learned it would take way too much money and effort. We wrote grant requests seeking funds to renovate the Old Gym as a Lifetime Learning Center. Our program was just too small to raise the kind of funds needed.”
“With all the help we got, we saw it as a mission to help others get started,” Sara added. Bard LLI has offered a helping hand to Lifespring, New Paltz LLI, and Vassar LLI and now regularly meets with our regional lifetime learning programs.
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