Student Views

Comments were almost entirely positive for both TELOS and TSO, with constructive suggestions for both organizations. Results are also posted on page four of the Fall 2018 TELOScope.

• About 36% of students on the TSO contact list responded, with an additional 72 respondents from Continuing Education’s all-TELOS email list.
• Eighty-one percent take classes primarily from TELOS and over 50% have been taking TELOS courses for three years or more.
• The mailed BCCE catalogue is the most-used source for class information, followed by the TELOS and TSO web sites;
• About 80% of respondents rated their TELOS classes as Excellent or Very Good.
• About 70% have attended TSO programs such as Coffee & Wisdom and Interim Seminars;
• About 88% of TSO participants rate their experiences Excellent or Very Good.
• Respondents appreciate the variety and quality of both the class offerings and TSO activities.
• Greatest potential for increased TSO participation appears to be in three areas:
  1. Seminars (42 more indicated future participation than current participation)
  2. Clubs (59 more future than current)
  3. Off-site activities (60 more future than current)

Letters and Notes from TELOS Students:

Edie Heppler — has participated as a TELOS student, TSO president and council member, class host:
In 2012, I started cutting back on my work. I was looking for something to do, and I knew I wanted to keep learning. I put my husband through college, but I was never able to attend.  I worked my entire life as a bookkeeper/accountant, and now was my opportunity. I looked at options around the Puget Sound, but most didn’t sound appealing because I wasn’t looking to get a degree or better my skill set.   I had heard about adult education programs, and about a program called “OSHER,” so I began to Google retirement programs and TELOS came up. I learned that TELOS is part of BCCE, and I knew I had a BCCE catalog, so I looked it up and found the TELOS program. I had received those catalogs for years and had never noticed. Read more..

Sandi Medendorp — has participated as a TELOS student, TSO council member, class host, co-editor of the TELOScope newsletter:
In 2016 as I reached the end of my career, the most frightening thing in the world was my ensuing retirement. I wondered how will I spend those long hours that had been devoted to work for over 35 years? I worried that TV and junk food would destroy my brain and body. But then, Eureka, I found TELOS. I found people like me not ready to be consigned to the background of life. Here I have found folks ready to exercise their life experiences by teaching, speaking and becoming active in passionate pursuits of the arts, sciences and community discourse. Read more..

Bill Greaver — has participated as a TELOS student, TSO committee member, class host, organizer of the TELOS representation at the Overlake Senior Fair:
The 2017 Fall term brought me to the close of my seventh year as a TELOS student.  As I left the next-to-the last class of Views of the News with John, I mused on how exhilarating it is to sit in the class (and the many, many other classes I have taken) and be surrounded by so many great and knowledgeable minds. Read more..

Nancy Rogers — has participated as a TELOS student, TSO council and committee member, class host:
Telos Saved Me. My husband and I moved here from North Carolina four years ago in September. I knew that I would need to make myself get out and about because I can be a hermit in a heartbeat. I discovered the TELOS program from the catalog. We moved in on a Saturday and I started class on the following Tuesday. The classes spoke to my need for lifetime learning without tests or papers. I have met friends who have welcomed me into their “tribe”. Kathy Shoemaker encouraged me to get involved with TSO. I cherish her wisdom and welcoming. My life has been enlarged by this program and these people.

Jerry Bunce — has participated as a TELOS student and instructor, TSO president and council member, class host:
I had heard about TELOS when I was teaching credit classes at Bellevue College. My wife had been taking a TELOS writing class for years with a group of people with whom she has become very good friends. So, I had been thinking that I would like to take a class or two when I retired from teaching. Read more..