DIRECTOR'S NOTE: July 8, 2016

When I accepted the position of director for OLLI at WVU, I had already agreed to spend a few weeks this summer in my adopted hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa, working with a children’s theatre.  It was not really a difficult decision to come to West Virginia and that decision was affirmed when I was able to make arrangements to fulfill my obligation in Iowa as well.

So, Monday evening, I will be leaving Morgantown for a couple of weeks to work with an extraordinary group of theatre professionals and enthusiastic children at the Sturgis Youth Theatre, a children’s theatre that I’ve been involved with since it was founded 17 years ago.  Every summer, a group of 35 to 50 kids, ages 10 years and up, come together with theatre faculty and students from the University of Northern Iowa to produce a show.  This year’s production, Puss in Boots.

However, I will still be working for OLLI during these two weeks. I plan to spend this time continuing to research OLLI’s background to better understand where the program has come from and where it can go, as well as learning the university’s new purchasing program and protocols. I will be checking email several times a day and checking in with the office at least twice a day. So please feel free to reach out if you need anything. And of course, Sonja, Steve, and Diane will be available in the OLLI office as well.

I look forward to hearing how the first two weeks of summer term are going and will share some experiences from the SYT kids when I return.

J.