Lifelong Learning at Arbor Acres

At Arbor Acres, wellness is not treated as a single idea. Stormie Bruce, the community's Wellness Manager, has described active aging as the ability to "live fully and actively across the seven dimensions of wellness: physical, emotional, intellectual, social, spiritual, vocational, and environmental," as she told Arbor Acres in a recent interview. Lifelong learning sits squarely in the intellectual dimension, but a class or discussion group also creates the kind of shared experience that builds social wellness and the sense of accomplishment that supports emotional wellness.

Why Lifelong Learning Matters

According to the National Institute on Aging, engaging in personally meaningful, mentally stimulating activities is linked to better cognitive health in older adults. A lecture, a new skill, or a challenging discussion asks the brain to do something it does not do on autopilot, and that kind of effort is part of what keeps it sharp over time.

A class or a discussion group also puts residents in a room with people who share an interest, which is a far easier way to build a friendship than starting from nothing. Bruce has described active aging as fundamentally about possibility, about helping people discover what they can do rather than focusing on limits. Learning something new, at any age, is one of the more direct ways to test that possibility for yourself.

Ways to Keep Learning at Arbor Acres

• Live and Learn: Part of the Resident Council, the Live and Learn committee organizes lectures and discussions chosen and led by residents themselves. A recent session, Layers of History, brought in a curator from Reynolda House Museum of American Art to walk residents through six new paintings on view in Arbor Acres' own gallery space.
• Great Courses Lecture Series: Recorded university-level courses, including a recent series on the fundamentals of sustainable living, give residents a classroom experience without the commute or the tuition.
• Visiting Authors: Through the Writers & Their Books series, residents sit down with working authors, including a recent visit from Winston-Salem novelist Charlie Lovett to discuss his newest book.
• Studio Classes: Hands-on courses in painting, sewing, printmaking, and woodturning, often taught by resident artists themselves, give residents technical skills to build on over time rather than a single afternoon project.
• CLEO and Digital Literacy: CLEO, short for Computer Literacy Education Outreach, pairs local high school volunteers with residents for one-on-one help with phones, computers, and other devices. The exchange runs in both directions. In a recent intergenerational session, students taught residents how technology has changed across the decades, and residents taught the students what daily life looked like before it did.

This is the true art of living: treating curiosity as something to practice daily, across as many dimensions of wellness as a person wants to explore.

To learn more about lifelong learning at Arbor Acres, contact Arbor Acres or fill out the form at the bottom of this page.