City program starts 2 classes

The city of Bloomington is offering two new classes through the Division of Parks and Recreations' "People's University."\nThe People's University is an adult learning program offered by the city to promote continued education in the community in a casual environment. \nIts goals are to promote the interactions of local business, educators and the community at large. Classes are offered in subjects ranging from classes such as "Redirecting Children's Behavior" to language classes and book clubs.\n"The mission of Bloomington Parks and Recreation is to provide the services for the positive development of Bloomington, and these classes are just an extension of that," said Shelli Stewart, public relations manager for Bloomington Parks and Recreation. "The people that use it love it and keep coming over and over and using the services."\nThe two new classes that are being offered are "Ex Libris" and "Heritage Scrapbook Album."\n"Ex Libris" is a book group that will meet the last Wednesday of the month from May to September to discuss contemporary novels at Borders Books and Music, 2634 E. 3rd St. \nThe class is free to Bloomington residents, and participants will receive a 20-percent discount for books they purchase for the class. Free refreshments will also be provided for participants. \nGerry Reynolds, director of the Borders shop in Bloomington, said his company is not concerned about profits when its plays host to such events. \n"It is more of a community thing," he said. "We have the space to offer, and it is part of our community outreach."\nThe second new class, "Heritage Scrapbook Album," is an advanced scrapbooking class that will explore scrapbooking techniques. It will be taught by Angie Doling, a creative memory consultant.\nProgram director Michael Simmons said the class is "is a specialized version of scrapbooking."\nClasses will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. June 4 at Bloomington North High School. The cost will be $6 for city residents and $8 for non-residents.\nStudents will receive complimentary Creative Memories Heritage album booklets when they attend the class.\nClass size is usually small, with seven to 14 people enrolled in every class. \n"We try to keep our classes small so people feel comfortable interacting," in an educational setting, Simmons said.\nThe classes also tend to be relatively cheap, Simmons said.\n"Our goal," he said, "is to make it available to as wide a segment of the population as possible"