Sunday, March 28, 2021

One-Day Events

Seniors are curious. Ideally, we have the leisure and energy to pursue learning about new things. 

One way to do it in PVSC is through One-Day Events, one-time presentations by experts on a huge range of topics. We have a vibrant and diligent committee that just keeps finding people who are willing to share their expertise for a couple of hours, for free. It's pretty amazing, when you stop to think about it.

This coming May is the perfect example. There are two such presentations. One explores the influence of social media today, on May 11; one outlines the colonial history of Fort George in Castine on May 18. Both are at 4:00. The attached flyers provide details.

These unique events are members-only. Not a member? Luckily for you, it's easy to join. Just click on the link to our website in the box to the right. On the website, click "Register now."







Thursday, March 25, 2021

Zooming along


Picture this: you're trying to log into Zoom for your class, and it keeps telling you something about your calendar. You text your instructor. Five minutes later, like magic, you have a new link and you're logged in and happily chatting with your classmates. 

Behind the scenes is PVSC's unflappable Zoom guru, Administrative Assistant Sheila Krautkremer. In this case, she was in her car by the side of the road somewhere, first fielding a panicky phone call from the instructor, then somehow managing to call up the class list and correct link on her phone so she could send a quick email to the 20 people in the class.

As they say, Zoom is great except when it isn't. It takes a Sheila to train the instructors, offer tutorials to students, and, perhaps most importantly and most difficult, solve the problems on the fly. And there are problems. An instructor's video has no sound; a student's audio is blaring; someone can't log on; lots of someones can't find a particular Zoom controls on their device. More than once, Sheila has been on two phones and her computer, fielding student questions. 

We'd rather be holding classes in person. But until we can, Zoom keeps us learning. And Sheila keeps us Zooming. So thankful to have her with us!