SAGE memberrship is available for anyone over 50+ and interested in lifelong learning.  There are no tests, little homework and no pressure to achieve any preset standards.  It is for the fun, friendship and keeping the brain sharp.

We need two forms completed - Assumption of Risk and a Photo Release.  After your registration is complete, you will receive an email with a link to the forms that need to be completed.  When you complete it and hit "submit", it will automatically be sent to us. 

The Membership fee covers September 1 to August 31.  The membership fee must be paid to take classes through SAGE or other Senior Colleges.  Membership Fees Are Non-Refundable. We do not prorate this fee if someone joins for just one semester.  

Funding is available for membership/class fees through TheSAGEfund.  Please leave a message at the SAGE Volunteer Office for more information by calling 768-9501. 

MEMBERS OF OTHER SENIOR COLLEGES ARE AUTOMATICALLY MEMBERS OF SAGE.

Senior College membership required. 

Jan 21 – At Midnight Comes the Cry by Julia Spencer Fleming. It’s Christmas time in Millers Kill, and Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband Russ van Alstyne - newly resigned from his position as chief of police – plan to enjoy it with their baby boy. On their list: visiting Santa, decorating the tree, and attending church. But when a beloved holiday parade is crashed by white supremacists, Clare and Russ find themselves sucked into a parallel world of militias, machinations, and murder.

Feb 18 – Threads of Deception by our own Beverly D Knowles.  This is her second book, and we are so proud she is a member of our Book Club. “What could possibly be cannonballing toward the Abbotts? Curious about a newspaper clipping that details an event unknown to Elizabeth and Charlie, the retired teacher and pilot are drawn to a midcoastal Maine inn only to return home to their Victorian. Underlying dilemmas weigh upon them, including the preservation of their 1870s spirit-inhabited Victorian and the disappearance of Jennie and Rebecca several years ago. And then there are the clairvoyant ones as well as Mrs. Abbott’s former students.

Mar 18 – Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray. “…But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.”

Rick Asam is sharing his lifetime hobby of building model railroads to demonstrate the new technology now available to build displays easier and more efficiently.  He will set up different gauges for you to see.  If there is enough interest, there is a discussion about starting a Model Railroad Club for enthusiasts to share their skills, knowledge, and expertise with one another.

Drop by the Sargent Family Community Center during Center's regular hours to check out the display December 19 - 21st 2025.

Exhibitor: Rick Asam, model railroad enthusiast and member of SAGE.

There are no expectations or requirements.  Walking is a good exercise for Seniors, but it is more fun to do it with a group of like-minded friends. We vote to venturing out on bright, sunny winter days but staying inside where it is warm. An email group will be set up so we can contact each other to see who is going to venture out that day.  Finding yourself walking alone would not be fun, so we will stay in touch through email. Point of Contact: Penny Kern or Alice Bolstridge, two women who are very serious about staying active and in good health in their later years.Email either at SAGEatUMPI@outlook.com.

During the winter months, Seniors Achieving Greater Education uses ZOOM exclusively because it is safer than walking or driving on icy roads and sidewalks.  It is also more comfortable to stay in your cozy living room than venturing out into the cold.

However, as we all know technology has a mind of its own and we mortals must learn to control it and make it perform as we need it to.  We don't have to be teenagers to do that.  We just need to learn to be the "master" and not the slave, get comfortable with it, and learn its "issues" so we can get ahead of anything it throws at us. Well, we try.

The best way to do this is to PRACTICE. Push a button and see what it does and if we get into trouble, how to get out of it.

Join me for some practice sessions - trial and error - master class, whatever you want to call it.  We can head off a lot of headaches before we jump into the winter semester.

Experience ZOOM users are welcome!!! We can use all the help we can get.

Class is held on ZOOM

There are almost 40 museums and historical societies here in Aroostook County and they are all different and have many terrific stories to tell.  We will take a PowerPoint journey to visit these amazing places. 

Host: Dennis Koch, a returning SAGE instructor and former Board member.

At the “planning meeting” last Fall, members requested a look into the history of the towns and cities of Aroostook County.  In partnership with the Sargent Family Community Center, we will take a trip to as many historical societies, museums, and historical sites as possible in 2026.  Those interested are invited to this next three weeks to help layout a plan for visiting these sites.

This is an overview of my 2024 trip out west to hike and hunt bumble bees, with stops in Ohio, Illinois, South Dakota, and Wyoming. It examines the state parks and wilderness areas visited and some biology of the bumble bees found. Instructor: Dave Hobbins is a retired UMFK forestry professor who got involved as a citizen scientist for the Maine Bumble Bee Atlas in 2017.  He has been hooked on Bumble bees ever since. He lives with his wife in Fort Kent and is a board member of the St. John Valley Senior College.