CONTINUING EDUCATION.

Byline: - Nicole Sunkes

For a senior education experience that goes beyond the run-of-the-mill sewing or exercise classes, older adults can take courses with the Encore/OASIS program at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Encore, part of Pierce's older adult education program, and OASIS, a national senior education organization, partnered three years ago. The more than 5,000 students in Pierce's program can take classes in Spanish, opera and acting, and retired college professors visit to lecture about topics ranging from world issues to the latest in gerontology research.

Student Molly Novak, 73, volunteers a few hours a week in the school's office and participates because she enjoys the camaraderie the classes offer.

``I particularly like these groups because they are stimulating to the brain,'' she says. ``I'm trying to keep myself active and into what's happening in the world.''

Dawn Muroff, coordinator for OASIS in the Valley, says the 29 classes offered give seniors a chance to have a relationship with younger college students. Recently, a class from Pierce teamed with a group from Encore/OASIS and compiled their older counterparts' oral histories.

``Maybe it's the excitement and enjoyment of being on a college campus and being intergenerational,'' says Ida Blaine, Encore director at Pierce. ``It's very stimulating. The younger students here enjoy having the older adults.''

OASIS charges a minimal fee for classes, usually $2 to $4 per class session, and Encore courses are free. Registration for the spring semester, ages 50 and older, is noon to 2:30 p.m. Jan. 14 in the Campus Center at Pierce College, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills. Encore classes begin Feb. 9, and OASIS classes begin Feb. 23. Registration is ongoing. For more information, call [phone].

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Virginia Mullen takes a tai chi class offered through the Encore/OASIS program at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer