Although many of the classes offered through the Workforce development program at Holmes Community College – Attala are intended to prepare students for employment, one class in particular is a big draw for an older crowd.
“I was expecting it to be people looking for job skills, but it turned ot to be people who just wanted to learn. The majority of this class are senior citizens. They are not computer savvy,” said Earline Smith, Workforce coordinator. “A lot of senior citizens are afraid of the unknown, but this group came to learn and they’ve helped each other. These individuals need these skills for their daily lives.
“You would be surprised at the number of older people wanting to learn this. It is exciting to see them learn,” she said. “There is a whole gap of people we are missing; this class fills that. Education doesn’t stop when you get a degree. It is about lifelong learning.”
Some of the students want to develop skills that will allow them contribute to their communities.
“I’m an officer in an organization where I was going to need to be able to use a computer well, so I thought it would be good to learn a computer well,” said student Stirling Steen, who is taking the class for the second time.
“It is important enough for us to do it twice,” said Steen of herself and fellow student Judy Lawless, each of whom is on her second run through the course.
Bessy Kennedy wanted skills that would allow her to perform specific tasks for a Christian education program at Abraham Chapel in McCool.
“I’m involved in Christian education and sometimes I have things to do on a computer that I’m not familiar with,” she said. “I wanted to be able to put together a syllabus and print it.”
Although this was only her second day of class attendance, Kennedy said she was already gaining skills and confidence.
“At first, I didn’t know what to ask, but now I know enough to,” she said, echoing other attendees who noted that part of their problem with computer is that they don’t know enough about the possibilities.
“We learn a lot from listening to the questions other people ask,” Steen said in agreement.
“I just want to learn how it can help me in my day-to-day life,” said Kennedy.
Offie and David Oakes attend as a couple.
“I teach art and go to a lot of workshops out-of-state,” said Offie, who noted that these skills can help her review training materials from distant workshops afterwards to continue her learning.
David Oakes is more interested in photography.
“I wanted to learn how to turn a computer on,” he said. “I want to learn how to put pictures in – transfer pictures from my camera – and to send pictures,” he said.
All of the students say that instructor Sandra Howard makes it easy to learn.
“I was terribly intimidated before Sandra got ahold of me,” said Steen.
“She makes us believe we can do this. I was absolutely desperate,” added Lawless. “It (the computer)is a magic genie if you can get the right combinations.”
Now that they are mastering basic computer skills, this group is lobbying the school to offer a next-level class that will teach them basic Microsoft Office skills in Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
