University Park, Pa. -- The class at University Park's Forum auditorium is studious, papers and folders propped open, focusing intently as the speaker paces back and forth lecturing and sipping a Coke.
The speaker abruptly swings on his heel and settles at the piano bench. The rolling chords of "Makin' Whoopee" rattle the rafters as he quips, "This is a Bill Clinton song" to gales of laughter.
The class is "Sounds of Music," part of the Penn State Elderhostel 2003, and the lecturer is Tex Wyndham, an authority on ragtime, Dixieland and turn-of-the-century popular music.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Elderhostel at Penn State. The Elderhostel movement got started in 1975 after a couple of New England professors toured Europe staying at youth hostels. They were impressed by the concept and decided to start senior education programs offering room and board at New Hampshire dorms. The program has blossomed into a worldwide not-for-profit organization offering educational and travel opportunities for adults 55 and older.
Penn State is a site provider for the organization offering a variety of weeklong courses on topics as varied as "Aftermath of the Cold War" to "How to Date an Antique." Some 80 people are arriving Aug. 10 for the most popular offering, "Join the Chorus of Fred Waring's America," which teaches Waring's music methods and culminates in a concert production.
The courses run Sunday through Friday offering 22 hours of education as well as side trips and tours. These days the package includes room and board at The Nittany Lion Inn and other local hotels. The shared bathrooms and lack of air conditioning prompted the move out of the dorms, according to Nancy McCord, program planner and conference director for Outreach, which oversees the Elderhostel program.
"You get a few who want to live in a tent and eat beans, but not that many anymore," she said.
McCord, who has worked on the project for the past six years, estimated it takes 10 to 15 people to put Penn State's Elderhostel program together. The interdepartmental effort ranges from Outreach where conference planners organize programs and publicity and arrange registration, to faculty experts and the hospitality staff at the Inn.
McCord said the Elderhostel programs are part of the University's mission to offer external resources to the community. The life enrichment courses can reinvigorate lives. "These are people who just have a passion for learning, who want to travel," she said. "They're just a wonderful group of people."
The courses play to the University's strengths, she said. "We take advantage of the colleges to provide local experts. Penn State and Central Pennsylvania have a lot to offer."
To that end, an upcoming course on gardening and cooking will take participants to the University's medieval garden and a local farm. A golf course has been sold out and conference planners are looking to add a course on American literature next year.
Back at the Forum, Wyndham has his class of 25 eating out of the palm of his hand as he paints a vivid picture of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway during the Roaring Twenties. He's back at the piano pounding out "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm (After They See Paree?)" while heads nod and feet tap. The course, which includes two University instructors, will go on to cover classical and jazz music as the week progresses.
The session brought in participants from California to New Jersey.
"I think this is a very fine program," said Doris Benner, 70, of Towson, Md. "Tex is talented, super organized and he covers so much material."
Benner, a retired elementary school principal from the Baltimore County school district, has attended 55 Elderhostel courses. This is her second at Penn State and she's planning to return for the fall offering on antiques.
"I like the music and it's a three-hour drive from where I live," she said.
"The key here is learning is fun," she continued. "Lots of Elderhostel attendees are either educators or engineers. They are lifelong learners. You don't stop learning when you retire."
For pictures, go to http://live.psu.edu/still_life/07_17_03_elder/index.html
For information on upcoming Elderhostel courses, go to http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/Elderhostel