Kathy Leopold:
Associate of Arts
Kathy Leopold has stories to tell.
She attended the 1968 summer Olympics and the 1970 World Cup.
She traveled by herself to a village in Taiwan in 1977 to visit her parents. And all she had to find her way was a photo of the house they lived in.
She survived a heart attack.
She has gone on more than a dozen mission trips to Nicaragua and Guatemala. In fact, she just recently returned from Guatemala where she spent 10 days as part of a medical team that provided general medicine, pediatric, eye and dental health care to indigenous people.
And, on May 17, one day before she turns 80 years old, Kathy will graduate from Lorain County Community College.
“I think this is a big accomplishment for somebody of my age,” Kathy, of Avon Lake says. “I want to be around for a long time. And learning helps to keep my brain going.”
The associate of arts degree Kathy will earn is not her first. It’s not her second. Kathy, a retired Avon Lake teacher, has a bachelor’s degree from Albion College (Michigan) and a master’s degree from Cleveland State University.
She’s simply the definition of a lifelong learner.
A few years ago, with her two sons grown and out of the house, Kathy began taking classes through LCCC’s Center for Lifelong Learning. The Center offers programming that is designed especially for those who are at least 50 years old and/or retired. Kathy took courses on religion, folklore and creative writing.
It was in those writing classes that Kathy’s experiences transformed into stories. Guatemala became the setting for her fable. A quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala, became the main character of her fairy tale. She’s particularly proud of that story, which follows a lone quetzal named Q on his journey through adoption. She wrote it for her two sons, both of whom were adopted.
“I recently found out my book is going to be used by Lorain County Children Services as a learning tool and story of hope for children who are hoping to be adopted,” Kathy says. “I’m very honored.”
While Kathy continued her courses and became a familiar face among other Center for Lifelong Learning students, someone eventually asked why she wasn’t going for a degree. She didn’t really have an answer for that.
“So, I looked into it,” she says. “They were able to award me a lot of credit for the courses I’d already taken.”
As Kathy’s classes expanded beyond the Center for Lifelong Learning, so did the age difference between her and her classmates. And, as she shared tidbits of her life in class, she began to build bonds with the students around her, regardless of age.
“Many of them are so young, some are still teenagers,” Kathy says. “And they could see, when I asked questions or when I made comments, that I have more experience in life than they do. With my travels, my family, other education and being teacher, they saw that I could add a different dimension.”
From her, younger classmates learned that simply living life will always count for something. And from them, Kathy learned that ideation and creativity are born at any age.
“I’ve learned a lot from the young kids in class,” she said. “They have all these different ideas because they play these video games I’ve never played, and they read these books that I’ve never heard of. The ideas that they come up with are so fantastic.”
Kathy might be close to graduation, but she is far from done at LCCC. She enjoys being on campus, meeting new people, and exploring new things.
“I’m still learning. And I really like it,” Kathy says. “I love life and I’m not afraid to try new things. I could tell you many stories about places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen.”
For as many stories as she has to tell, there are many more yet to be written.
