President Kent Frankenfeld, Jerilyn Logue & Rotarian Sponsor Jim Patton
Jerilyn Logue
Jerilyn is the Director of OLLI & ISU Retirees at Iowa State University
In March 2020, OLLI faced a crisis. The COVID pandemic caused all face-to-face classes, meetings, and trips to change or cancel. At that time, the OLLI program at ISU had over 800 members and over 40 classes scheduled for the Spring 2020 term. Jerilyn contacted all members, instructors, and sponsoring partners about eliminating in-person contacts and the need to use a new format to deliver classes & meetings. Some instructors chose not to teach; some instructors and OLLI members needed to learn ZOOM, the new delivery system, and some decided to wait and not continue with OLLI.
Jerilyn and her dedicated volunteers chose to find a way to adopt the changes necessary to deliver online education and assist members in using ZOOM. Jerilyn and other volunteers spent hundreds of hours providing the best educational experience possible. OLLI purchased new equipment, more members became familiar with ZOOM, and increased emphasis was placed on marketing and outreach.
As a result, this spring, 47 courses were offered in-person, via ZOOM, and hybrid. Members began joining from a larger geographic area: representing 71 different Iowa towns/cities, 34 different Iowa counties, and 23 states other than Iowa, including a member from Canada. Membership continues to grow, currently surpassing 650.
Jerilyn’s leadership and dedication to OLLI, together with over 100 volunteers and instructors, has successfully implemented a “new” OLLI at ISU. With more changes ahead, Jerilyn and her new assistant, Heather, are facilitating increased membership and expanding the course offerings.
Jim Patton is Jerilyn’s Rotarian Sponsor.