The Kent State Senior Guest Program welcomes any person from the age of 60 or more to attend one to two classes per semester. While the classes do not count for college credit, the courses allow guests to further explore majors, topics and trends.

Calvin Carstensen, a 71-year-old senior guest student, is creating a currently unnamed organization for senior guest members sponsored by the Kent Free Library.

“I would like to see the senior guests come together and have a mutual sharing of our experiences,” Carstensen said. “It would be a fellowship and inspiration.”

In 2009, Cartstensen donated an airplane called The Spirit of the Flying Deuce, and he would like to encourage fellow guests in the organization to support Kent State through possible scholarship opportunities or donations.

“The senior guests might want to be further involved in the school as I have, to financially support the school,” Carstensen said. “For instance, I am considering setting up a scholarship, and maybe there would be other senior students who would like to do this, too. [The scholarship] would be gifted from the organization.”

Carstensen’s frustration with the lack of association and communication among fellow senior guests spawned the idea for the organization.

“Normally when you’re around people my age, within seconds it gets to health issues or politics or professional sports. I’m not interested in that,” Carstensen said. “I would like to be in a position where I would be listening to other people’s experiences as senior guests and what they want to do next. I’ve been at this for 13 years, and I’m not done.”

Carstensen will provide more information regarding the organization during senior guest registration on Jan. 7 and 8.

Contact Hilary Crisan at [email protected].