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San Diego Group Offers Free Classes For Older Learners

San Diego Oasis Offers Free Classes For Older Adults
San Diego Group Offers Free Classes For Older Learners
San Diego OASIS is a nonprofit organization focused on people 50 and older, offering a broad range of free classes and opportunities to learn and stay productive.

This Saturday, the third floor of Macys in Mission Valley will be the site of a free technology fair for San Diegans 50 and older. It’s put on by OASIS, a 30-year-old nonprofit devoted to older learners, encouraging them to do something every day to keep mind, body and connection to the community healthy.

OASIS is not an acronym; it represents an idea. "Many members actually relate to that name very well because they say, if not for OASIS, my life would be a desert. I wouldn't have a place to get up and be excited to go to,” said Simona Valanciute, the group’s CEO.

Membership is free to anyone 50 and older. The program offers classes and workshops in subjects ranging from cyber security to health and wellness, along with opportunities to travel to places like New Zealand and Chicago. OASIS also has learning centers in several other cities and states.

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Terry and Dean Lattman are two San Diego regulars. They have taken nearly 200 courses at the center. "You can take judo, strength training, yoga anything like that. You can take calligraphy, art classes," says Terry Lattman.

San Diego OASIS Center in Mission Valley has five classrooms and a computer lab designed specifically with older adults in mind. "Because the classes are small, my computer classes, it's a maximum of 14, I really enjoy the opportunity to give individualized instruction," said Barbara Smith, an instructor.

San Diego County is home to more than 300,000 people who are 65 and older. By 2050 that number is expected to triple to over a million.

Valanciute says one of OASIS’ goals is to use these resources to engage people with time and talent to give back to the community through mentoring and reading to children. "Half of it is about 50 and older and half of it is really about the community at large. So, we're touching both children in both directions. Children when they're little, and sort of us, when we age and later in life," said Valanciute.

Saturday’s technology fair will run from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Attendees will have a chance to learn more about modern technology, and to visit booths from the American Association of Retired Persons, and San Diego County’s Aging and Independence Services.