Lifelong Learners Attend Scarsdale Adult School

Scarsdale Adult School, an award-winning non-profit organization, is a proven source of quality adult education. Now in its 80th year, SAS boasts a wide array of humanities courses as well as computer, foreign languages, writing, career development, personal finance, arts and crafts, photography, fitness, card and board games, cooking, health/wellness, and hobbies and edutainment classes.

Registration for the fall semester is underway at www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org, with staggered class start dates throughout the year for fun and enrichment all season long. Class locations, days, and times vary by course, but all are housed in venues convenient to Scarsdale. Classes are open to all, regardless of residency, and fill on a first-come/first-served basis.

Continuing its year long celebration of its 80th birthday, SAS will host several special events. On Sunday, October 14, 2018, SAS offers an 80th Anniversary Academy, featuring keynote speaker Laurie Santos, Professor at Yale University. After the one-hour mini-version of her popular course, Psychology and the Good Life, students may choose between Alfred Hunt’s Around the World in 80 Days with Mark Twain and Page Knox’s Alfred Stieglitz and His Circle. The afternoon celebration ends with Daniel Blake and his jazz ensemble, the Digging, for an annotated concert of Benny Goodman’s 1938 hits as well as delicious appetizers prepared by cooking instructor, Jensina Olson. Participants may register for just the keynote lecture or for the entire program.

On Wednesday, October 24, 2018, SAS welcomes An Evening with Anna Quindlen, from 7:30 to 9 pm at Scarsdale Middle School. Among other things, this celebrated writer and former columnist for The New York Times will discuss her most recent novel, Alternate Side, her ninth book of fiction in her highly successful career. Registration in advance is highly recommended. Seating cannot be guaranteed for walk-ins.

Next semester’s walking tours include public art installations and galleries in the subways, Battery Park City, Chelsea, the Lower East Side, and Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Architecture tours include SoHo’s cast iron buildings and Central Park West art deco. Additional theme tours include a Japanese garden stroll and tea ceremony, Lincoln Center, sites from the show Hamilton, and Broadway musicals. Artists and art historians will highlight the latest exhibits at the Met, the Met Breuer, the Whitney, MoMA, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the Asia Society Museum.

1938 and the Swing Era as well as From Spirituals to Swing commemorate the music at the time of SAS’s founding whereas 80: A Musical Birthday Celebration explores a variety of pieces that share opus number 80. Our 80th celebration continues with An Evening Concert of Classical Greatest hits with Cristiana Pegoraro. Other popular music appreciation courses survey the music of Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Leonard Bernstein, and the careers of Shirley Jones, Howard Keel, Nat King Cole, and Florence Henderson. The Sunday chamber music concert series returns and SAS will offer several different classes to enjoy the music of Claude Debussy, 100 years after his death.

Noteworthy new history and current event topics this term include:
● Echoes of Slavery
● Constitutional Implications of Current U.S. Foreign Policy
● Remembering the Twin Towers
● Overview of African American History
● Contemporary Politics through the Lens of Dystopian Fiction
● History and Culture of the Jews of Persia.

The fall semester also promises an opportunity to revisit Genesis, examine sects and schisms in Jewish history, explore religion in China, revel in the heritage of England’s Tudor monarchs, or study the Italian Renaissance. Students may improve their English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish language skills.

Movie matinees delve into the element of suspense and a new Wednesday personal documentary film course will view family mysteries and histories. Literary discussion groups cover the fiction of Philip Roth, stories by Hawthorne and Melville, science fiction literature, the wit of Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward, ecology-themed poetry and prose with Ruth Handel, as well as perennial favorites BookTalk with Harriet Sobol, contemporary memoirs with Lori Rotskoff, and short stories with Marilyn DeRight. Single-subject classes will focus on La Celestina and There There by Tommy Orange.

In its technology department, SAS offers answers to questions about social media, Excel, and eBay. Students may jump-start careers with grant writing tips or wind them down with retirement planning and investment courses to help students navigate ever-changing estate tax, and social security laws, and shed light on strategies for investing and living on fixed incomes.

Aspiring performers can be swept up in song, improv, or Indian classical tabla drumming. Arts and crafts opportunities include flower arranging, calligraphy, drawing, basket weaving, decoupage, crochet, embroidery, knitting, jewelry-making, mosaics, mixed media, and painting, and stained glass. Photoshop and photography courses appeal to those with a passion for cameras of all shapes and sizes.

Fitness and dance classes run the gamut from (A) aerobic fit blast to (Z) zumba, including body sculpting, tap, pilates, Walk 15®, and yoga. Students may hone their bridge game or take up canasta or mah jongg. Others may learn to meditate, become more mindful, experience a spirit encounter, or learn the basics of genealogy research reading.

All these classes and many more will be starting before the leaves begin to turn. With both day and evening classes, SAS has something to fit everyone’s schedule. The new fall catalog was mailed in mid July to all Scarsdale residents and is posted on the adult school website. Extra printed catalogs are available at Village Hall and in limited quantities at the Scarsdale Library Loft. Visit www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org to register, to sign up for the bimonthly electronic newsletter, or for additional information about the dynamic line-up. Call (914) 723-2325 with questions.