Center for Creative Retirement in Riverhead offers peer-to-peer learning

Kate Sotiridy stepped up to the microphone in a Riverhead classroom as she began a presentation on the journalist and social-political activist Gloria Steinem, who turned 91 in March.

“I’m sure many of you remember her,” Sotiridy, 79, said of Steinem, who in the late 1960s and early 1970s emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States. Among her many accomplishments, Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine and a co-founder of Ms. Magazine, Sotiridy noted. Earlier in her career, she had posed undercover as a Playboy bunny to expose the exploitative employment policies faced by women at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Clubs.

“For that job, she had to take a test,” continued Sotiridy. “Trying not to stand out, she purposefully answered some questions wrong — and still got the highest grade in her group. Additionally, she had a quote that might resonate with some of us here:

" ‘The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.’ ”

And so began another meeting at the Center For Creative Retirement, a learning center for retirees administered by Long Island University and held at Suffolk County Community College's eastern campus in Riverhead.  During its Tuesday and Thursday meetings, members often volunteer to research and deliver talks in hopes of imparting their knowledge, wisdom and, perhaps, a little levity into everyone’s day. The group has about 52 members, with an average age of 75, according to its director, Philip Metzger. Membership is $170 for the semester or $265 for the year.

Colleges and universities across the nation offer similar initiatives, where retirees can learn from their peers, including the Institute for Learning in Retirement at Farmingdale State College and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the Stony Brook University. Members say the programs help keep their minds sharp and help them learn something new while offering a social outlet.

On this late April morning, Sotiridy, a Southold resident, had the group riveted. Everyone in the room was old enough to remember Steinem, and interest seemed substantial.

Metzger noted the presentation had all the elements he likes to see incorporated by his volunteer speakers. It was interesting, well-researched, highlighted a sometimes controversial personality or topic and incorporated audio and visual aids to help everyone follow along. “Very well done,” he said with a smile.

Member-directed program 

Metzger should know, having served as the director of the 44-year-old LIU program for the last 17 years. At 81, the retired U.S. Customs Service employee and Southold resident stays involved, busy and focused. “This group really is unique,” he said, adding that it’s as social as it is educational. Meetings coincide with LIU's fall and spring semesters  and include occasional lunches, an end-of-semester meal and gatherings at members' homes.

"People here also develop friendships and can quickly find themselves immersed in a new circle of friends," he said.

Founded in 1981, the LIU program is designed to capitalize on the variety of skills and life experiences of its members. Participants come together to design their own programs, and contribute as topic coordinators, presenters and discussion participants.

“People join here to seek intellectual stimulation, to continue learning after they retire, to have fun and to augment their social lives,” Metzger said. “As a group, we set up our own syllabus, make our own presentations, invite guest speakers, and sometimes plan additional events outside of our classroom-like setting. ... Everyone works to empower each other, to further our knowledge and enjoy a great time.”

Sotiridy, who has a master's degree in English, a public relations background in health and served as director of marketing for 13 years at the now-closed St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center in Manhattan before becoming a consultant at Mount Sinai Hospital, also in Manhattan, said the program’s focus is clear, sharp and well-defined.

“I’m so glad I found this group,” she said following her well-received presentation. “I moved out east from Queens about 11 years ago. I was looking for something exactly like this because I wanted to continue using my brain. I also hoped to meet new people since I didn’t have many friends in the area.”

Among her previous presentations, Sotiridy has covered bluegrass music and French, post-World War II fashion designs. (She worked at Christian Dior fashion house while living in France during the '60s and early '70s, she said.)

Nunavut, anyone? 

Chart Guthrie, 69, of Calverton, who joined the program in 2018, said he has also had a rewarding experience with the club.

“As a lot of people who come to these gatherings have discovered, this has been a neat way to learn about things you might not have considered before,” he said. “There’s a really nice spread of diverse topics, many of which I’ve found to be very interesting. Being here also keeps me mentally active, and it’s fun to be around such a good group of people.”

He has delivered presentations this year on climate change, on the music of Laurel Canyon (which he considers his most enjoyable to research and present) and a presentation on the Canadian territory of Nunavut.

“Nunavut is the newest Canadian territory,” said Guthrie, a retired state Department of Environmental Conservation fisheries manager. “It was carved out of the Northwest Territories and area-wise is the largest territory in Canada. It’s semiautonomous and governed by the Indigenous peoples up there. I found out about it when, during another presentation earlier this year, the presenter showed a map of Canada — and there it was all the way at the top of the world. I never even knew it existed before then. I started doing some research on it and couldn’t stop.”

Judy Llewellyn, 77, of Center Moriches, is the program's scheduler. A retired sales rep for Hunter Douglas Window Treatments in Lindenhurst, she goes through the many presentation topics that are suggested for each session. The process, she said, calls for members of the group to provide fresh ideas. These are sorted, briefly described and presented to the group’s members, who then vote on the subjects they would most like to hear about. A committee tallies the votes and, based largely on that guidance, decides which seem most popular. The committee then picks someone to oversee each topic and hopefully recruit presenters.

“Of course, not everyone here likes to speak in a public forum,” she said. “But we try to help with that. We offer mentoring on public speaking and doing proper research, and there is a lot of overall encouragement here. We all want to see you succeed and enjoy yourself.”

Scientists, musicians, artists, teachers 

Bev Dixon, 73, a retired California State University, East Bay, medical microbiology professor who now lives in Greenport, marvels at all the different backgrounds of the program's membership. 

"Chart Guthrie and I are the only scientists," she said. "But we have musicians, artists, teachers and so many more. I find it really interesting to learn about what other people do.”

Dixon's presentation topics have included Russian authors Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Solzhenitsyn, plus biological warfare and one titled "Bats Need Love, Too."

“I learn from all the presentations, from the people here, and from my own research efforts," she said. "There’s just so much knowledge to be tapped, and much of it covers things I was never involved with — ballet and opera for example. No matter who you are, you can keep learning here.

"Add in the new friendships and social fun together and you realize how amazingly valuable time spent with this wonderful group can be,” Dixon said.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the cost to attend the Center for Creative Retirement