USU’s Summer Citizens Program celebrates 40 years
Even though she is 80 years old, Lee Cates practically fits in with the college scene.
She sits in The Hub sipping Cafe Ibis coffee from a plastic green mug that says “Reuse,” while reading the morning paper and chatting with the people sitting at the table next to her. But she isn’t the average USU student. She’s one of more than 600 people who moved to Logan during the summer to attend Utah State University’s Summer Citizen Program.
This year is the 40th anniversary of the Summer Citizens Program at USU. Through the program, senior citizens move into student housing and essentially become USU students as they take classes through the university and have access to facilities like the Merrill-Cazier Library and the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building.
“I’ve been coming here a good 10 years, but I can’t remember when I first started,” Cates said.
She said the biggest reason she comes back year after year is to escape from the sweltering hot summers in her home town of Tempe, Arizona. The majority of the summer citizens are from Arizona.
“I have to confess, weather is a big item,” she said. “Don’t visit Arizona. Visit somewhere where there are four seasons. Arizona only has summer, fall and spring. Logan’s nice because it actually has winter.”
Even though the classes are the biggest draw for the program, Cates said she prefers spending her time eating at local restaurants.
“I’ve found that even though the meals are expensive, I save half of the meal for later,” she said.
One of the biggest draws of the program is the Summer Citizen community in Logan. Cates said she loves going to the Cache County Senior Citizens Center.
“I used to go all the time because there was a group of four ladies and we’d sit at the same table,” she said.
When she’s here, Cates is involved in the Presbyterian church. She said she loves seeing the bell choir perform, especially when Cathy Bullock, a journalism professor at USU, performs a solo.
“When I’m here, I get involved in vacation bible school, which I have always been a believer in,” she said.
One of the highlights of living in Logan during the summer, she said, is watching plays and operas.
They’re very talented people and I really admire them,” she said.
The Summer Citizens are some of the main supporters of the theatre in Logan during the summer, said Richie Call, a professor of acting at the Caine College of the Arts and director of the Lyric Repertory Company.
“I wouldn’t say they’re the majority, but I would say they are the core. They’re people we depend on coming to most of the shows,” she said.
He said the Caine Lyric Theatre wouldn’t be able to be as professional as they are without the monetary impact of the summer citizens.
Dennis Hassan, assistant department head of the theatre department, said when the summer citizens come, it is like they are home for the summer.
“We love seeing them around town,” he said. “It is an incredible phenomenon beyond what was originally imagined. They are citizens who come back each summer.”
Hassan said they’re not just interested in the theatre performances solely for the entertainment value.
“But they’re also very interested in the history of the space itself, the history of the company, the company members,” he said. “It is really like having another set of grandparents.”
-morgan.pratt.robinson@gmail.com