A different kind of senior

Though some students will leave Cache Valley for internships and summer jobs, housing in Logan will fill up with senior citizens participating in the Summer Citizens program through Utah State University.

Every year beginning in May, seniors — mostly from Arizona and other warm states — travel to live on or off campus to participate in classes, day trips and tours of Logan and surrounding areas. Members must be 55 or older to participate in the program.

The Summer Citizens program is one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind in the nation put on by a university, said Linda D’Addabbo, the Summer Citizen program and facilities coordinator.

“We have 64 different offerings in the nine-week program, many of them taught by our local professors but also residents of the community who have a speciality,” D’Addabbo said. “We also have some of the summer citizens who are former educators who will teach as well. It really makes for a diverse program.”

Classes on technology, history, foreign languages, fitness, theater and ecology are just some of the options for summer citizens to choose from.

Classes can cost anywhere from $15 to $75 each. Day trip costs range from $50 to $100.

There are also numerous day trips citizens can take to places like the Space Dynamics Lab in North Logan, Temple Square in Salt Lake City and Logan Canyon or Bear Lake areas.

There were 733 people who registered for the program in summer of 2014, and that number is expected to stay about the same for 2015, D’Addabbo said.

According to a study done by the program in 2008, the grossed sales that came from summer citizens that year in the community were more than $4 million, which is likely higher now.

Over $6,000 per person is spent each summer, D’Addabbo said, which is the estimate from the program as of recent years.

This summer will be Jerry and Linda Kos’ 10th year as part of the Summer Citizen program. They lived in Aggie Village their first few years when it was offered as housing for the program, and now live in Snow Hall each year.

“We obviously take a lot of classes. That’s important to us,” Linda said. “We attend everything. When they have the free band concerts, we certainly attend that. Also, there’s the D.I. (Deseret Industries), always there for a good bargain.”

In addition to trips offered through the program, the couple has taken trips to South Dakota, Idaho, Wendover, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, the Oregon Trail and other places as they live in Logan during the summer months.

“We like to travel around some … and I love your library. The university library is a must,” Jerry said. “We love history. … I wish they would lock me into your library until I’m 85 and then let me out. I still wouldn’t be able to read everything.”

Each participant is given a student I.D. card to use on campus, with the same benefits available to USU students, including use of the library, the copy center, IT service desk help, computer lab use and prints and Aggie Blue Bikes.

Participants are also given a parking permit for the Big Blue terrace.

The program has more than 70 ambassadors across the nation who are summer citizens, D’Addabbo said. Jerry and Linda are two of the program’s ambassadors in the Tucson, Arizona area, where they live in non-summer months.

“The purpose of the ambassadors is just the same as USU ambassadors, D’Addabbo said. “They’re spokespersons for the university. They help us in our recruiting effort. They bring people to the presentations when we go out on the recruiting trip. They bring friends and neighbors.”

Jerry and Linda will bring two new couples to the program this year who are also from Arizona.

“In all our experiences, whether on campus or downtown or shopping, the people are very, very nice,” Linda said.

Jerry echoed that sentiment.

“We get to see some of the students, and we think, ‘That used to be us,'” he said. “We like to see you younger people. We think about the days we were in college. … We like it there. There’s nothing bad we can think of it.”

For more information on the Summer Citzens program, visit summercitizens.usu.edu.

— mandy.m.morgan@aggiemail.usu.edu