Ellen Dumm describes herself as a hardworking Australian shepherd – she thrives when she has a job to do. That made the idea of retiring complicated for her. What would this self-described working dog do without a job?
She enrolled in the inaugural class of the Change Makers program at the University of Colorado Denver to spend a semester learning about retirement and coming up with a plan for the next phase of her life.
“I’m not going to go to the beach and read a book the rest of my life,” said Dumm, 68, who spent her career as a communications consultant. “I’ve worked since I was 14 years old. I haven’t had a time frame where I didn’t have to make a ton of money. So I’m taking the time – and working a little – to ponder what’s next.”
The Change Makers program graduated its first class of 17 students in the spring. Half of the students were new retirees, while the rest were soon-to-be retired or semiretired. The program, which costs about $ 3,200, has students meet two nights a week over four months. The program is modeled after similar classes at Notre Dame and Stanford University, said Anne Button, founding director of the Change Makers program.
Change Makers is part of the university’s effort to reflect the population in Colorado, which is among the fastest-aging states in the country, Button said. The university has set a goal to serve a diverse population from 17 years old to 117 years old.
The class also comes at a time when colleges nationwide are suffering from declining enrollment and are branching out to fill their classrooms. Universities saw enrollment drop by almost 10% from 2012 to fall 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
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“A lot of people aren’t quite ready for their careers to end and they’re not sure what they want to do, but they don’t want to go rock in a rocking chair,” Button said.
The class starts with introspection about student’s lives and goals and examines their “bucket lists” and “anti-bucket lists” of what they do and don’t want to do in retirement. It also goes through their lives to reflect on what times and experiences gave them the most meaning and purpose, Button said.
The class also helps explore different options for the future and stresses the importance of social connections and intergenerational connections. The class, which brought in a range of national speakers, also teaches students about maintaining health and wellness.
For various paths, students look at encore employment or different second careers or part-time jobs they could consider, as well as volunteering, entrepreneurship and community leadership and advocacy. As part of the curriculum, students develop a 90-day plan to cement the paths they aim to pursue.
“Not everyone had an ‘aha’ moment of what they wanted to do. But they got a good framework to help them think about the next steps. Life often gets in the way of plans, but they came away with a good way to think about the next phase of their lives,” Button said.
Dumm said she didn’t emerge with a definitive plan of what to do in retirement, but the class gave her the structure to think about options.
“It’s a much, much, much needed program,” Dumm said. “So many people contemplate retirement as a door that goes down and then you have golf or the beach or you move to Arizona. This gives people a route toward a thoughtful retirement rather than just viewing retirement as an on and off switch.”
Dumm said her classmates’ diverse interests helped spark interesting conversations. Having cohorts going through the same stage of life also helped promote connections throughout the class, she said.
Button said she’s tweaking the class for the next semester to bring in more local leaders to talk about opportunities in and around Denver. But the first class overall was a great success.
“The secret sauce was bringing people together. They were ready for deep discussion and introspection and open to external ideas. It was really incredible to watch,” Button said.