b'Still ConnectingAfter All These YearsThe South Orange-Maplewood Adult School holds the community togetherBY ROSE BENNETT GILBERTThese photos, mostly from the 1980s, illustrate the wide range of classes that the Adult School continues to offer: from ballet to clowning, pottery to upholstery, as well as the summer program for children.A lmostsinceitsfoundingey,This is not the first time the Adult School hasand successful online dating to sewing, singing, and some88yearsago,Life- dealt with dark days. It was actually born in earlierstand-up comedy. long Learning has been thehard times, during the Great Depression of 1933 motto of The South Orange- when our communities had fewer jobs, little mon-MaplewoodAdultSchool.and much less entertainment. A group of local TheCOVIDcrisissuggestseducators and concerned citizens responded with an another tagline: So far, andidea that was remarkable at the time: Create evening yet so near. classes that would offer adults new ideas, entertain-With most in-person classes banned for nearly aments, maybe even new occupations. It became a year now, SOMAS teachers and students have beenbeacon of hope where the community could gather creating new ways to stay in each others lives be- and everyone could afford to take classes. cause, as writing teacher Theresa Burns points out,SOMAS has been getting high marks ever since. in these days of isolation, a lot of people are lookingNow the oldest operating adult school in New Jer-for a community.sey, it was named a Local Legacy in 2000 by the They have been finding it through Adult SchoolLibraryofCongress.Asa501(c)(3)organizationCharles Ornstein (L) of ProPublica and Nancy Solomon classes held on Zoom, enabling teachers and stu- that receives no taxpayer funding, the school has of- (R) of WNYC discuss "Can Investigative Journalism Save NJ?" at a SOMAS-sponsored event. Eva Samo (center) dents to remain close virtually while they must stayfered thousands of students hundreds of affordablewas honored for her 50-plus years as a SOMAS trustee. far apart in real life.classes in everything from glassblowing, gardeningPhoto by Sandra Kurek.32/ matters magazine / winter 2021'