One Day U: College, Boomer Style

If the thought of going back to college for one day brings up memories solely of being strung out or being hung over, you might want to skip this post. On the other hand,  it conjures up one of the most exciting and amazing periods of your life, you are in luck: One Day U is coming to a city in which you live or can easily travel to.

The lifelong learning trend for folks over 50 is now off the charts.  And, in the field of lifelong learning, One Day U is a revolution, without the blood and gore.  It’s all about firing up all our dormant brain cells  and re-capturing the excitement of being back in a classroom, being exposed to new ideas, information, and possibilities. And the bonus is that there is no homework and no exams.  This is learning for the sheer joy of learning, taught by the most popular and engaging college professors around.

Steven Schragis started One Day U in 2006, with one event in New York. Fast forward to 2016, in which 125 events are scheduled, in 55 cities across the country.  New York now has events every month, and most cities have two per year. Events are sponsored by newspapers, in their attempt to either supplant or augment the printed word with live educational events.  Eighty percent of attendees read the newspaper daily.  When you enter a One Day U event, the intellectual energy is electric.

Life in the Boomer Lane attended her first One Day U event last year, and will attend her second next month. The day was magical. The profs not only had a total command of a variety of fascinating topics, they were supreme entertainers as well. LBL has a lifelong history of inattention, which has dogged her since an early age (She got C’s in Citizenship in elementary school, for talking too much during class).  But, amazingly, she stayed totally focused throughout each of the One Day U presentations. The time flew by.

Schragis put it this way: “Being exposed for a day to America’s greatest professors is an exhilarating experience that most people have never had before or haven’t had in a long, long time.”

So, for just a moment set aside worries about the political climate, world events, debates about whether to have knee replacement or cataract surgery, or frustration over your five-year-old grandson having to help you out with a technology-related issue.   Instead, check out One Day U. 
Readers Note: LBL is not being paid for this endorsement.  She is writing about this because she  likes to know that she has had a positive impact on people, other than to just extol the virtues of coffee Hagen Dazs or rant about Donald Trump. So if you do attend a One Day U, please let her know. She lives for stuff like that.