Registration is underway for SOAR's 20th semester which runs March 14 to May 25.

SOAR is a local lifelong learning group with over 300 members. This spring, over 50 daytime courses are offered by volunteer presenters, with at least one new course starting each week.

Most courses are one to six sessions long, with each class meeting once a week for 1½ - 2 hours. Many classes are at SUNY Potsdam. The rest are at public places such as Mayfield Apartments and the Civic Center in Potsdam, and Partridge Knoll and the Silas Wright House in Canton.

SOAR offers a wide spectrum of course topics this spring:

• Local and Greater American Culture and History: stained glass windows in the North Country; Adirondack real photo postcards; Red Sandstone Trail (a history walk); Helen Hosmer; Silas Wright; Abraham Lincoln; the Vanderbilts; the Irish in St. Lawrence County; postal history before stamps; the Erie Canal and NY Central RR; the history of midwives in America.

• The Wider World: Spanish cooking and culture; "Vicarious Voyagers" travelogues; Muslim Spain; current events; crises of our times.

• Nature and the Sciences: bats; Eastern Bluebird; North Country amphibians and reptiles; Geology of NY State; Great Lakes water protection; green chemistry for manufacturing and sustainable development; the fossil record of life on Earth; water sampling in the Gulf of Mexico; musical acoustics and music reproduction.

• Philosophy and Religion: Chinese philosophies; Edgar Cayce; two biblical parables of love.

• Writers and Writing: creative English grammar; Tennyson Poems; writing sestinas; war coverage in our mass media; lyrics in American popular music.

• Personal Choices, Skills, Health: meeting DAR/SAR membership qualifications; financial planning; genealogy; using e-books; understanding life's early recollections; medical ethics; the use and misuse of antibiotics; building better bones; Zumba; Tai Chi.

• Art, Crafts, Hobbies, and Games: art workshop; origami; rubber stamping; tatting; building model airplanes; Mah Jongg; contract bridge; Rummikub.

Other trips and events this spring will include an excursion to the Gran-View Restaurant in Ogdensburg to “meet the chef” and have lunch; a bus trip to Fort Drum to tour the base and eat lunch at the Commons followed by a stop at Otter Creek Winery in Philadelphia; and a gala tenth anniversary program and luncheon at SUNY Potsdam for SOAR members and guests.

SOAR’s yearly membership fee is $65 (trips and events are an extra cost.) New SOAR members are always welcome, and may join at any time and may register for as many courses and presentations as they wish. All membership renewals are due at the time of fall registration.

For more information, visit www.soarnorthcountry.org, e-mail soar@potsdam.edu or call 267-2690.