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Kids & Family

Northfield an Education Hub for Seniors

In Northfield, the learning never stops.

It's not only children and college-age students going back to school this fall.

Northfield's Cannon Valley Elder Collegium provides a unique life-long learning experience for area seniors to go back to school. But, they won't have tests, essays or enormous tuition fees.

Retired high school teacher, Ron Ronning, and retired professor, Keith Anderson, founded the CVEC 14 years ago. It began with just four classes. It has since expanded to incorporate around 13 classes per term at three eight-week terms per year. In this past year alone, it has been host to 500 students.  

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Ed Lufkin, current executive director of CVEC, said that this growth is “… a natural consequence when you have a good array of college-type courses and a steady influx of retirees in a community.”

Lufkin has been involved with the Collegium since 2006 when he retired from a career in medicine at The Mayo Clinic.

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“Almost all students that come to our classes have a college degree and this is their way of going back to school,” said Lufkin. He also notes that there is no minimum age requirement, nor need for previous schooling to attend courses.

CVEC has a diverse pool of instructors that includes former professors from and . They provide instruction on a wide array of topics.

Former classes include: On Chocolate!, DNA Basics, Northfield History and More, China, Inside Out, among many others. Classes for this upcoming term include: Jazz: The First Hundred Years, Sociobiology, Minnesota in the Civil War, Laura Ingalls Wilder: Her Life.

“It’s not just sitting in the classroom and reading book,” said Lufkin.

Beyond the classroom, CVEC has led architecture tours, Shakespeare trips and opera visits. They have also hosted a class on organ building where students got a chance to see how organs are made and speak with organ players. In July the CVEC, in collaboration with Carleton, held a film festival in town that was free and open to the public. They also offered students a course in film to go along with the festival.

The next term starts Sept. 14 and runs for 8 weeks. Registration is now open. More information can be found at the or online at cvec.org.

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