Reba Archizel has tried out tai chi and yoga. She’s helped unload food at the Regional Food Bank. She’s eaten at local ethnic restaurants and learned about the cuisine.
She’s done it all through OASIS, a life-long learning program that offers educational classes to adults 50 years and over. Sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Aging & Community Wellness at the University at Albany, OASIS is about to kick off its fall semester, which runs from mid-September to mid-December.
OASIS offers more than 60 classes, and most meet only once. Archizel sampled tai chi and yoga, for example, during an exercise program overview. The trip to the food bank was a service opportunity for which she registered. She ate at BFS, a local Mediterranean restaurant, and Al-Baraki, a Lebanese restaurant in Cohoes, as part of classes that explored her interest in food and eating.
A former state employee, Archizel learned about OASIS at a health fair presentation. She didn’t have time to take part while she was still working, but after she retired, she made it a priority to check out the OASIS catalog.
`I knew it was important to be active intellectually and physically,` she said.
That realization was driven home by watching her mother, who had a Ph.D. in mathematics, battle dementia in her final years. Although her mother played bridge and did puzzles late in life, she `didn’t marry that with physical health,` and Archizel thinks that played a part in her declining mental state.
`I just watched her decline,` Archizel said. `Her last eight years were clouded.`
Archizel’s philosophy about successful aging is mirrored by the mission of OASIS, a national program that tours a three-fold approach to getting older: lifelong learning, healthy living and social engagement. The local branch claims more than 1,000 members. It’s free to join, and once you take a class, you’re considered a member. Classes typically cost $20.
After finding several OASIS classes that appealed to her, Archizel signed up with an 80-year-old friend. She liked the way the classes were just one session, giving her an opportunity to decide if topics were something she wanted to pursue more seriously before making a huge time commitment.
Some of the classes on tap for fall include:
· Rituals: Design your own Experience
· Through his Eyes: Charles Lewis and the Civil War
· How biofeedback can help you
· Murder at Cherry Hill presented by Judge Duggan
· Power of the Brain Gym
· From Berkeley to Albany with Professor Warren Roberts
· Hydrofracking and the threat to New York State’s health and environment
Lauren Benoit, who oversees OASIS, noted that in honor of the program’s 30th anniversary this year, it is offering three special coupons. The first coupon is for people who are new to OASIS or haven’t taken a class since 2009. They can enroll in a class for just $5. The second coupon offers a fifth class for free to people who take four classes at regular price. The third coupon is for RSVP member volunteers. If they have volunteered over 100 hours since 2011, they can take a class for free.
Seniors are also welcome to join the OASIS Course Development Committee, which meets six times a year to research and plan the classes for each semester. Volunteers are also need to serve as class coordinators, arriving early, signing people in, ensuring A/V equipment is set up. In exchange, they get to attend the class for free.
OASIS sends out Making the Connection magazine, which has a full course listing, in mid-August. Anyone wanted to be placed on the mailing list should call the OASIS office at 442-5576 or email [email protected]. To register for classes online, visit http://www.oasisnet.org/Cities/East/AlbanyNY.aspx. Registrations can also be mailed in.