University in the Golden Years
Kath Van Doorn (L) and Susan Garcia (R) at the launch of Portal 2023.
[ ◉¯] Krista Bryce
For most students, university is a transition into the “real world.” Fresh out of their teens, they wander the hallways, line up at Starbucks, or in the case of VIU, snap photos of the bunnies nibbling the grass.
But postsecondary education attracts people from all walks of life: high school graduates, folks looking for a career change, and seniors who want to continue their learning.
Here are a few older (and wiser) faces on VIU’s Nanaimo campus:
Susan Garcia (74) moved to Nanaimo in 2015. To feel less stifled, she took the Clemente Course in 2018. This one-year, two-part course allowed mature students facing various barriers (financial difficulties, mental health challenges, etc.) to pursue postsecondary education. First offered and taught by the now-retired Dr. Robert Pepper-Smith, Clemente has been unavailable since the COVID-19 lockdown.
However, Garcia didn’t find the course as stimulating as she’d hoped. “I have to engage my mind in order to be happy,” she explained, “[but] I was finding myself in a cohort of people who only wanted to talk about how sick they were … I had nowhere to put my left brain.”
After finishing Clemente, Garcia started taking courses in Creative Writing, History, and Indigenous Studies. Besides wanting more of a challenge, she wanted to become a better writer, especially when writing about her ancestors and the women that “history” (as written by male colonizers) has forgotten.
Garcia’s work with the Nanaimo Historical Society and the Nanaimo Family History Society, and her own efforts to trace her family tree, has fostered her 25-year relationship with genealogy and provided the inspiration for her writing.
VIU is actually Garcia’s third university. She received a Social Services Worker Certificate from the University College of Cariboo (now Thompson Rivers University) in the ’70s. And in the ’80s, she graduated with a BA in English and a Liberal Arts Certificate from Simon Fraser University.
One big difference between her education now and then is that Garcia is doing what she loves instead of focusing on career preparation and raising a family. However, she’s prioritizing her writing while balancing commitments and dealing with old age.
“My time on Earth is limited,” she said. “I have to think, ‘What’ll I do in the next six years?’ I’m sure I can keep writing past then, but you never know.”
Garcia transitioned smoothly into academic classes, partly because of Clemente and partly because she always had at least one classmate her age. One of those friends is Kath VanDoorn, another Creative Writing student whose work appears in the 2023 issue of VIU’s literary magazine, Portal.
Last year, Garcia took a 100-level Theatre course where the age gap was much more noticeable: “I was everybody’s grandma.”
She found the experience very positive, especially since she was working with young students from many backgrounds. “They’re doing the same kind of creative work [as me] but from a whole different perspective, and it teaches me to be a lot more open to ideas.”
Besides her classmates, Garcia also found the CREW and Indigenous Studies faculties extremely welcoming. In particular, she felt accepted by her Indigenous peers and teachers and the people at Shq’apthut (A Gathering Place), building 170, which has been a key part of reconnecting with her Indigenous heritage.
Garcia finds it unique that she’s part of both programs since there’s usually little opportunity for them—and other programs in general—to interact. “Your little group is contained by where you’re studying [and] your exposure to people.”
Besides the curveball of navigating the online world of VIULearn and scriptwriting software, Garcia is also concerned about the limited course offerings in Indigenous Studies, which will affect her graduation requirements. She wishes there were more Indigenous professors and ways to learn Indigenous ways of knowing.
Whatever happens, Garcia hopes to meet her classmates again in the future. “I understand that everybody has priorities each decade, and you deal with what you need to deal with in that time,” she said. “But I’ve met some awesome people that I hope that I stay in touch with.”
You can read more about Garcia’s personal and academic journey in her Portal 2022 piece “Wrapped, Unwrapped, and Wrapped Again” (soon to be available online at portalmagazine.ca).
“
I was everybody’s grandma … They’re doing the same kind of creative work [as me] but from a whole different perspective, and it teaches me to be a lot more open to ideas.
~Susan Garcia
”
Gya-yu-stees, or Joe Starr (65), is one of Garcia’s friends from VIU. He’s from the Haisla First Nation in Cimoca (Kitamaat) and was a schoolteacher for 25 years. A few years ago, his partner died of cancer and he was hospitalized for six months after a near-death experience.
After trying to go back to work, Starr took an early retirement, but he found that lifestyle didn’t suit him. “It’s too much idle time,” he said. “I came to the realization that too much downtime for thinking is dangerous.”
Starr began taking classes at VIU in Indigenous Studies, History, and Sociology in 2016 and is now finishing his Master’s of Education in Educational Leadership—a course that is one year of theory and one year of a field inquiry and a major project.
As a former teacher, Starr was much more critical about VIU’s professors—whom he pointedly referred to as “instructors”—and the kind of education he received.
The first thing he mentioned was an overreliance on technology. At VIU, he’s only had two professors who lectured without using PowerPoints.
Starr hasn’t had any online classes, but he once taught—and hated—an online course, both because he’s not tech-savvy and because there’s no direct contact between people.
“To me, it’s important that you have eye contact with whoever it is, whether it is a student or an instructor. You have to pay attention to the body language.”
Next, Starr lambasted instructors for being too academic and confusing their students. Speaking from his own experiences, he admitted there were times in his career when he needed to remind himself to “step back, Joe.”
“As a researcher, you can know this stuff inside out, but can you tell that to me in everyday language?” he asked. “Profs may know their stuff, but can they teach it?”
The biggest gripe Starr has is instructors assuming their students know how to do important things like write a research paper. “Just because you passed English 12 doesn’t mean you can write.”
This assumption extends to international students, especially graduates, who are expected to be on the same academic level as their domestic peers, despite English not being their first language.
Starr’s program is an overwhelmingly international and female cohort. His teachers use Western concepts and models of leadership for students from East Asian countries who won’t be able to use them when they return home. To which Starr asks, “Are [the university and the instructors] aware of their audience?”
All these points can be condensed into one statement: “Instructors are running on too many assumptions.” Starr went on to ask, “Is that fair? And is it quote unquote ‘ethical’?”
Starr was the only senior in his classes up until his third year, when he met Garcia. It took about a semester for him to adjust to being older than everyone—even the teachers. “[At first] I was self-conscious that I was older, but after a year I said, ‘I’m going to empower myself with that.’”
While he was very critical of most of his instructors, Starr praised the librarians, who are always ready to help harried students: “Tell them you’re stuck, this is what your topic is, [and] in a few days, they’ll email you, give you a list [of suggestions], and you’ll be off and running.”
Besides his coursework, Starr has mentored several Indigenous young men—including a student now doing a Masters in Indigenous Governance at the University of Victoria—and is part of a group that discusses issues like domestic abuse and divorce.
He’s also done talks with Snuneymuxw professor Dr. Collette Jones (Studies in Women and Gender) on Indigenous feminism and masculinity (an important topic for Starr) and what it’s meant to be versus how society says it should be.
For his final project, Starr is developing a First Nations Studies 12 curriculum for the Coast Mountain School District (SD82), focused on Cimoca’s first residential school.
Students in Starr’s program have the option of doing a final project or a thesis in their second year. However, the thought of submitting a paper for review to a stuffy ethics board didn’t sit well with Starr.
To put it another way: “I’m finding that the ethics review board is a bit too anal and there’s no real room to maneuver.”
We wish Starr the best of luck with his final project.
Sculpture made from recycled materials.
Courtesy of: David Heifetz
“
[At first] I was self-conscious that I was older, but after a year I said, ‘I’m going to empower myself with that.’
~Joe Starr
”
David Heifetz’s time at VIU has been nothing short of pleasant.
Originally from the “un-United States of America,” Heifetz (78) has done it all: studied Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire; sold vintage clothing and smoking apparatus at Woodstock; owned three head shops in NH; opened several vintage clothing shops in the States, Ontario, and BC; and sold tees as King Kauna Hawaiian Shirts at Nanaimo’s Commercial Street Night Market.
Since starting at VIU in 2014, Heifetz has taken many courses in building 325 (Visual and Applied Arts), including sculpture, painting, and design. He loves being able to attend for the “love of learning,” taking a few courses at a time without working towards a degree. (Seniors are eligible for free tuition at VIU, minus some fees and the raw materials.) And he likes just being on campus.
About 20 percent of Heifetz’s classmates are seniors. While he feels comfortable being with them, he also likes studying with younger people. He especially enjoys getting opinions on his pieces from both instructors and classmates. “They’re honest as hell, and I love it!”
Speaking of the faculty, Heifetz had one word to describe them: excellent. He singled out Jason Gress, Scott Leaf, and Chai Duncan in particular. “They treated me like a student, and I felt very at home with young people and older people.”
Another reason? “I got A’s on every project.”
The only challenges Heifetz has faced are balancing studies with his work and personal life. However, he goes to building 325 whenever he wants to work on his projects. Most of them involve recycled products, thrift store items, and garbage from the beach. Some of his artwork has been displayed on campus, including at the View Gallery, and outside of Nanaimo, including at the Milner Gardens & Woodland.
By the way, Heifetz is looking for a student who can set up a website and accounts on sites like eBay, Etsy, and Vinted to help sell all 5000 of his shirts in stock. Anyone who’s interested can email him at dheifetz@aol.com or text or phone him at 778-350-3531.
~
Garcia, Starr, and Heifetz all agree that coming back to school in your “golden years” is worth it.
For Garcia, it’s a chance to go beyond what might be easier or enough for other people her age. “I needed to have more of a challenge, otherwise I wasn’t going to go anywhere that would satisfy me.”
Heifetz likes being able to learn at his own pace, especially at a local university. “You couldn’t do better on the Island,” he said. “It’s a great experience, even if you only take one course a year. I highly recommend it.”
To make the transition back to school easier, Starr advises seniors to keep their brains active by practicing their writing, reviewing citations, and familiarizing themselves with technology. More importantly, he encourages them to share their lived experiences.
“As a senior or an elder, we have a responsibility to share what we’ve learned, what we’ve lived. Share that with someone, with the younger generation.”
To all senior students reading this: We’re proud of you! We know it’s not easy starting or returning to university, but we’re glad you are taking this step. Us young-uns have a lot to learn from you.
And to all seniors considering taking a class this year, do it! Garcia, Starr, and Heifetz prove you’re never too old for university. Go ahead and apply. We can’t wait to see you on campus!
Selfie of David Heifetz.
Courtesy of: David Heifetz
Sophia is in her third year at The Navigator and fifth (final!) year of the Creative Writing and Journalism program. Outside of The Nav, she volunteers as a Peer Helper and is doing another year of Portal Magazine. This summer, a solo trip to Japan ignited Sophia’s wanderlust. She hopes to return soon, next time with a stop in Korea.
