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back to school in style
Studies have identified places on the planet where people simply seem to live longer and healthier lives. And that’s very exciting. They’re called Blue Zones, and we’ve been discussing them in class. – Dr. Montvilo
Reader.” Remember that from grade school? I don’t think they publish it anymore. “I have a driver deliver a couple of bundles of PrimeTime Magazine here at the college every month, and make it required reading for my students. Then we hold open discussions on the material. “At the start of each semester I also give a 50-question quiz on aging. It comes from the gerontology department at the University of Missouri, and it’s based on a “Facts on Aging Quiz” first developed in the 1970’s by a Dr. Palmore – it’s changed significantly since then,” she says. “Then as the class progresses I go back to the answers students had at the start, and we analyze how our ideas on aging have evolved. “Everyone has preconceived ideas on aging, and, actually there are several competing theories on what aging is biologically, psychologically, sociologically,” she explains. “To what extent is genetics involved? Diet? Where you live – which is very interesting, because studies have identified places on the planet where people simply seem to live longer and healthier lives. “And that’s very exciting,” she says. “They’re called Blue Zones, and we’ve been
September 2014
Dr. Montvilo’s classroom style is enthusiastic and engaging.
discussing them in class.” Robin seems totally engaged with this concept. She says, “There’s so much more work to do on this development, but right now a researcher named Dan Buettner appears to have identified five geographic areas where people reach 100 years of age at least 10 times the average rate. “Greece, Sardinia, Okinawa and Costa Rica I can understand. But what fascinates me is the fifth one: it’s in Loma Linda, California. That is very interesting.” One tends to think, watching Robin explain these new findings, that maybe here’s the reason her students regard her so highly--her sheer enthusiasm for a subject that could otherwise seem fairly bland. But is there anything that excites her in which she can’t get become involved? “Gardening. I love the garden. I love flowers; great big Sunflowers especially. We went to Connecticut to visit a farm that grows some of the most beautiful ones I’ve seen,” she smiles. “But I can’t grow them,” she says. “Some people, like my husband, have a natural green thumb. I have a black thumb. I don’t dare touch a plant or it’s dead.”
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