By John Wimberly
The Lifelong Learning Program (LLP) at the Instituto Allende has become a cornerstone for continuing personal growth in the San Miguel expat community. Started a decade ago under the visionary leadership of Jo Sanders and a dedicated team of volunteers, the program offers classes taught by experts on various subjects. Classes can be as short as one two-hour session or as long as four two-hour sessions. This year, LLP will add a field trip class to its offerings, taking participants to various sites, where experts will explain the folk art collected from around Mexico.
In 2023, LLP will return to in-person classes, along with four online classes for those who have grown to prefer online learning. The in-person classes are led by some of the most popular instructors from years past as well as some exceptional new teachers. Classes in the January-March term will cover Mexican history, art history, U.S. legal issues, local San Miguel and Irish history, Mexican cinema, the visual aspects of theatre productions, Leonard Bernstein’s career, climate change, 21st century fascism, critical thinking, fairy tales as life stories, the literature of the Harlem Renaissance, the history of dining, and a field trip to a folk art museum outside of Atotonilco.
One of the exciting features of our classes is the use of lively PowerPoint presentations. This allows the instructors to use visuals ranging from images of master artworks to video clips. LLP and the Instituto have invested significant funds to ensure high-quality visual and audio.
Courses are filling up fast (one is already sold out), so interested people should visit the LLP website to see detailed descriptions of the courses and register https://instituto-allende.edu.mx/eng/lifelong-learning-program/.
In late 2021, LLP ceased operations after its founder, Jo Sanders, relocated back to the U.S. Fortuitously, John and Phyllis Wimberly decided to move from part-time to full-time residents of San Miguel. They have been coming to San Miguel annually since 1984 and built a house in 1998. In the late 1990s, John taught ceramics (the wheel) at the Instituto during summers. Reading about LLP closing, John offered to take the volunteer job of director. Just as fortuitously, LLP’s talented leadership team all decided to continue working on the revived program. John gives the LLP leadership team and the Instituto’s leadership all the credit for the great course offerings, publicity, and organizational issues needed to have a successful January-March 2023 term.
LLP is totally volunteer driven, with the only paid staff being a person to help with technology. This allows LLP to keep the price of its courses reasonable. Courses are held in a room at the Instituto designed and equipped especially for LLP. Because people are still very concerned about COVID and flu, we are limiting enrollment to approximately one-half capacity of our classroom. In addition, we are requiring masks for everyone except the instructors. This should create as safe an environment as is possible.
