"A chance to learn about and actually see something I've wondered about since I was a little kid! (What do you mean they heat the whole campus from that building?!!)"

-Participant, Underground Tour

Jessica's Note

At your next OLLI presentation or course, as you settle into your seats, remember the trusty sidekick of modern times: your cell phone. Like a mischievous gremlin in your pocket, it awaits its moment to chime, creating an awkward moment and disrupting the joy of learning for fellow learners. Do not let the jingle of a forgotten ringtone break the silence of a rapt audience. Instead, take a moment to tame the digital beast in your pocket or bag.

Click or tap here to view a short video on how to quickly and easily silence your cell phone.

Jessica Alvarez

Program Coordinator, OLLI at MSU

Volunteer opportunity: ROADS

The only thing more fun than learning is helping others learn, too! OLLI's home unit on campus, MSU Academic Technology & Outreach, will host a ROADS (Rovers Observation And Discoveries in Space) Hub event on May 21, 2024. Teams from around Montana will converge on the Bozeman campus to share their ROADS projects.

The ROADS program was developed by Northwest Earth & Space Science Pathways (NESSP), based at Central Washington University, to offer students hands-on experiences exploring STEM concepts based on real-life NASA missions. A NASA Science Activation grant funds NESSP.

This year’s ROADS program takes inspiration from NASA’s Artemis missions to send humans back to the Moon. At the Hub event, teams will demonstrate their solutions to several mission objectives: building and launching water bottle rockets, building and programming robots to navigate and deliver cargo on a lunar map, and a day of the event space tools engineering challenge.

Several volunteers are needed to help with the following stations:

• Astronaut Readiness Review Station: Teams will share what they learned as they complete Mission Objectives (MO) during the 2023-2024 National ROADS Student Challenge. Including MO-2 Mission Patch design, MO-4 Moon Base Habitat description, MO-5 Gardening on the Moon outcomes, and MO-6 Observing the Earth from the Moon.
• Launch Phase: Teams will launch water bottle rockets.
• Surface Navigation Phase: Teams will program Lego robots to deliver four different packages to four different locations on a map of the moon.
• Space Tool Challenge: Teams will use the engineering design process to build a tool to collect moon rocks (colored foam balls) from the lunar soil (a foam ball pit).

If you would like to assist these student teams in their quest to learn about science and technology on May 21, please click or tap here to fill out the volunteer form.

City of Bozeman Development Survey

OLLI MSU has featured Friday Forums on cost-of-living issues in recent years. Here is an opportunity to share your thoughts on this issue. The City of Bozeman is working on a new Consolidated Plan to assess its affordable housing and community development needs, and it would like to hear from you!

This survey is meant for both residents in the city of Bozeman and individuals working in the fields of housing and community development, lending, social services, and fair housing and advocacy.

The survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete. Everyone who completes it will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a $100 gift card.

For more information or to complete the survey, click or tap here.

The survey is open until May 10, 2024.

Upcoming OLLI at MSU Programs

Courses

Microbes in Sickness and in Health Tuesdays, April 23 - May 14, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Hope Lutheran Church. Join award-winning professor Kari Cargill and gain an appreciation for the role that microbes play in our daily lives. Enjoy hands-on lab activities.

Speaker Series

Finding Tut's Tomb April 22, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. Museum of the Rockies. In this final Speaker Series presentation of the semester, Tony Demetriades will describe how American Howard Carter attempted to solve the age-old mystery of the location of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb. 

How It's Made

Charles M Bair Family Museum June 13, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Bair Family Museum. Tour the Charles M Bair Family Museum in Martinsdale, Montana. The Bair Art Collection includes works by Charles M. Russel, Joseph H. Sharp, Edward S. Curtis, Plains Indian beadwork and Navajo rugs exhibited in their museum. Transportation is not provided.

Learning Opportunities for Everyone - Feed Your Curiosity at a Price That Works for You!

We strive to keep member participation affordable so everyone 50 years of age and better can engage with us in lifelong learning. Therefore, OLLI at MSU offers financial assistance for both tuition and membership.

We are grateful to the family and friends of our late OLLI at MSU leader and consummate lifelong learner, Doug Young, for establishing the Doug Young Memorial Scholarship Fund.

We encourage you and your neighbors or friends to apply for membership or program tuition assistance as needed. Our application is quick and easy. Click or tap here to view more information or apply for financial assistance. Applications must be submitted prior to program registration.

Spring Reads



OLLI at MSU offers three member exclusive book discussion groups. We are sharing the below titles to allow you time to enjoy a good read and join in the discussions! You may join any of the groups below for one, a few, or all of the sessions.

OLLI Mystery Book Discussion Group

Rules of Prey

John Sandford

May 7,

12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Online via Zoom

OLLI Non-Fiction Book Discussion Group

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City

Andrea Elliott

May 20,

1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

Online via Zoom

OLLI at MSU Book Discussion Group

The House Gun

Nadine Gordimer

May 6

3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Face-to-face

Hope Lutheran Church

Seeking volunteers for program development

We're seeking adventurous volunteers eager to infuse their unique perspectives into the OLLI experience.

Spark Your Imagination: The OLLI Extras Committee seeks enthusiastic, curious volunteers who enjoy community outreach. Help shape these fun, interactive, seasonal "OLLI Extra" experiences.

Empower Future Adventures: Consider lending your expertise to the Development Committee as we chart and implement new development initiatives and events to support program development and sustainability for future generations and members.

We invite YOU to join our vibrant community. Complete our short volunteer form or reply to this email, and we will contact you to discuss further. Let's make every OLLI moment extraordinary together! 

Campus Corner

Below are a few upcoming events offered on the Montana State University Bozeman campus that may interest our OLLI at MSU members. Click or tap titles and locations for more information. These events are not sponsored or produced by OLLI at MSU.

Montana Supreme Court Oral Arguments Monday, April 22, 10:00 a.m. Strand Union Building, Ballroom A. Oral arguments for STATE OF MONTANA, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. DANIELLE WOOD, Defendant and Appellant. Most cases before the Montana Supreme Court are decided based on the written briefs submitted by the parties. However, the Court may determine that a case requires further discussion in addition to what the parties have argued in their written briefs. In such cases, the Court schedules oral arguments for open sessions before the Court. The court schedules approximately 15 cases a year for oral argument. All oral arguments are open to the public.

Presenting Prehistory: Digital Dinosaurs with Michael Serio. Thursday, May 2, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Museum of the Rockies, Hager Auditorium. MSU alumnus and current exhibit technician Michael Serio will share his current work digitizing and 3D printing the MOR paleontology collections. Advancements in surface scanning and 3D printing technologies have opened the door for a new wave of paleontological research and reconstruction. See how Michael has been leveraging these technologies and how they're used to advance the dinosaur research of today and tomorrow! This presentation is free and open to the public.

We hope you enjoy the selection of items we have chosen for this edition. Everything in this email will be archived on the Newsletter Archive page of our website.