Rappahannock Institute for Lifelong Learning

RILL is an exciting program of the Rappahannock Community College Educational Foundation, Inc. (RCC EFI) that is intended to be a life-enriching learning experience for adults and provides personal enrichment, non-credit classes in a variety of subjects and settings.

We thank Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury for their continued support of the RILL program. Residents enjoy 50% off tuition.

Spring/Summer 2024 Schedule

 Download the RILL Spring/Summer 2024 Class Schedule

Register Here!

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Floral Arranging with Tropicals ($45)--CANCELLED
RCC Warsaw Campus
Instructor: Laura Anne Brooks

This hands-on class will focus on arrangements that feature both leaves and flowers of tropicals and winter-blooming house plants. Participants may bring in dramatic leaves of their own tropical house plants; however, some flowers and leaves will be provided to create simple designs with strong lines, colors, and textures. After an hour of instruction and an hour of hands-on arranging, participants will leave class with a professional arrangement. 

Laura Anne Brooks is an accomplished Japanese Ikebana designer and has studied French and English art and decoration as well as floral design in the European manner. Brooks has taught floral design classes at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond for 20 years. Her design studio in King William, VA, is Designs from Dunluce, and her work is often featured in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

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Beginner Pickleball – Gloucester ($35)
Newington Baptist Church, Gloucester
Instructor: Carlos Morales
Mondays/Fridays, March 4, 8, 11, and 15
1 pm to 2:30 pm

This class may be full. Please contact Brittany at bjenkins@rappahannock.edu.

This course is designed for the first-time adult player and covers the basics of Pickleball rules, terminology, primary skills, coordination, beginner court time, and more. Paddles and balls are provided. Class is limited to 12 students.

Carlos Morales holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southeastern University in Education and played baseball at the collegiate level. After college, he taught high school Algebra and coached several sports at both New Kent and Gloucester High School, including the boys’ tennis team at GHS. He is a USA Pickleball Ambassador and Certified Pickleball Coach and focuses his free time on promoting the “Fastest Growing Sport in the U.S.” to all levels.
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Intermediate Pickleball – Gloucester ($35) 
Newington Baptist Church, Gloucester
Instructor: Carlos Morales
Tuesdays/Thursdays, May 21, 23, 28, and 30
1 pm to 2:30 pm

This class may be full. Please contact Brittany at bjenkins@rappahannock.edu.

This course is designed for the adult player who has completed the Beginner Pickleball course. Emphasis will be on score keeping, improving different strokes with direction to include dink rally, serve/return of serve. Players will work on understanding the fundamentals of the game and proper court positioning and more. Paddles and balls are provided. Class is limited to 12 students.

Carlos Morales holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southeastern University in Education and played baseball at the collegiate level. After college, he taught high school Algebra and coached several sports at both New Kent and Gloucester High School, including the boys’ tennis team at GHS. He is a USA Pickleball Ambassador and Certified Pickleball Coach and focuses his free time on promoting the “Fastest Growing Sport in the U.S.” to all levels.
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Taking Great Photos ($35)
RCC Kilmarnock Center
Instructor: Steve Kancianic
Tuesdays, March 5, 12, and 19
10 am to 12 pm

Join certified professional photographer Steve Kancianic for this three-part series, focused on practical advice for taking great-looking pictures in different situations using the equipment you already have. Topics include equipment, lighting, posing, camera technique, editing software, and more! It doesn’t matter what kind of camera or phone you use, Steve can help you with any of them – and most of his tips are universal.

Steve Kancianic is the owner and lead photographer at Yours Truly Photography in Kilmarnock, VA. Every year Steve photographs over 10,000 portraits in our local schools and youth sports leagues along with weddings and events. He has an interest in camera collecting and his collection boasts over 300 cameras spanning 130 years of photography innovation and technology.

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U.S.-China Relations ($35)
Due to unforeseen circumstances this class has been canceled.

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Retirement Planning ($35)
Zoom
Instructor: Linda Bondurant
Thursdays, March 14, 21, and 28
10 am to 12 pm

The first class will review a brief history of Social Security, the importance to senior citizens and those with disabilities, spouses and surviving spouses. The components that make up the calculation, cost of living adjustments, factors to consider when determining the optimal age to take Social Security including life expectancy, break even, voluntary suspension and taxation and earning limits will also be discussed. The second class will focus on Medicare and its component parts, Parts A, B, C and Medicare supplement or Medigap plans. Eligibility, when to enroll, how to determine the best path, and how to pay will also be discussed. The final class will cover Medicare Part D and review the best time in life to access Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Laura Bondurant is a Longwood College graduate, a Registered Social Security Analyst Elite from the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts, and a licensed health and life insurance broker in Virginia. She has 29 years in Employee Benefits as a manager and executive director with Fortune 1000 companies and completed the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist certification program at Wharton School of Business.

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The Challenge to Positive Thinking & Optimism as We Approach the 2024 Elections ($25)
RCC Warsaw Campus
Instructor: Dr. Robert Chapman
Wednesdays, April 3 and 17
1 pm to 3 pm

This two-part workshop aims to place current geo-political events in perspective while exploring why positive thinking and optimism are so challenging during an election season. We will attempt to place the chaos that seems so unique to our current age into perspective in an upbeat but realistic way. The second session focuses on information processing and the internal narratives we create or “self-talk,” emphasizing that thoughts are not necessarily facts. Strategies for addressing negative thoughts and engaging in rational self-talk, particularly in the context of remaining optimistic during the upcoming election season, will be explored. Note: This workshop maintains an objective stance on current events without endorsing or opposing any specific political agenda.

Dr. Robert Chapman was Associate Clinical Professor and Associate Director of the Behavioral Health Counseling program (retired) at Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions. He is a professional counselor specializing in substance use disorders.

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Microsoft Word: Tips for Productive Usage ($45)
RCC Warsaw Campus
Instructor: Martin Bailey
Thursdays, April 4, 11, 18, and 25
1 pm to 3 pm

This class may be full. Please contact Brittany at bjenkins@rappahannock.edu.

This course will cover elements of Microsoft Word, including the backstage view option; adding page numbers, headers and footers; fixing spelling and grammar mistakes. Advanced features like adding a ruler and using it to control the formatting of a document, inserting tables, setting tab stops, changing the shape size and color of text and inserting and formatting pictures will also be covered. The course will use Microsoft Word 2019, but the features covered are available in older and newer versions. Students should have basic experience using Word.

Martin Bailey holds a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the College of William and Mary and a Master’s degree in computer science from Virginia Tech. Before his retirement from the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, he was involved in computer programming, algorithm development, database management systems, and computer security.

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Scourge of the Seas: Pirates in History and Today ($35)
Location: RCC Warsaw Campus
Instructor: Michael Knapp
Tuesdays, April 9, 16, and 23
1 pm to 3 pm

Students will explore sea pirates in early history and then focus on the “Golden Age of Piracy” (approx. 1650-1730 AD) before discussing the threats they still pose to today’s maritime commerce. The course will cover pirate tactics, weapons, ships, day-to-day life as a pirate, pirate legends and lore, and famous real-life pirates. Students will also discuss women in piracy and government-sponsored pirates (privateers) and concludes with discussion about the most successful pirate of all–not who you think!

Michael Knapp is a retired civilian U.S. Government intelligence analyst and retired U.S. Army intelligence officer. He developed and taught six popular history courses for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia; was a guest lecturer at multiple educational institutions; and instructor for U.S. Military units deploying to Iraq.

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Civil War Battlefields: A Look at Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, and More ($35)
RCC Kilmarnock Center
Instructor: Keith Kehlbeck
Mondays, April 22, 29, and May 13 (no class on May 6)
2 pm to 4 pm

This class will discuss various Civil War battlefields and provide brief summaries of the engagements on those fields with images from walking tours. The final segment will trace the history of battlefield preservation from the late 1860s to present day.

Keith Kehlbeck is a writer, historian, and marketing consultant in the hospitality, nonprofit, and publishing sectors. At the age of 10, his family took a trip to Washington, D.C., sparking what would become a life-long interest in the Civil War. Since then his passion for studying the Civil War led him to write the critically acclaimed Gone to God: A Civil War Family’s Ultimate Sacrifice, a nonfiction story told with diaries and letters written by soldiers and their family members.

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Virginia in the Eighteenth Century ($35)
Historic Christ Church and Museum, Weems
Instructor: Robert Teagle
Wednesdays, May 1, 8, and 15
10 am to 12 pm

This course looks at life in Virginia over the 18th century, including the rise of the gentry class, the tobacco economy, slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, demographic change and westward migration, architecture, women and family, the Great Awakening and religious dissent, the Seven Years’ War, and political change and the American Revolution. From its consolidation as a slave society as the century opened to its leading role in the creation of a new nation, this course examines the profound transformations that shaped Virginia in its second hundred years.

Robert Teagle is the Executive Director at the Foundation for Historic Christ Church in Weems.  He earned his B.A. in History from the College of William and Mary and M.A. in American History from Virginia Tech. His research interests include the architectural history of early Virginia, the role of the Church of England, the rise of religious liberty in colonial Virginia, the Carter family, slavery and emancipation, and the history of Christ Church Parish.

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Wallace Stegner on Memory and Aging ($40)
RCC Kilmarnock Center
Instructor: Gail Kenna
Thursdays, May 2, 9, 16, and 23
1 pm to 3 pm

Three novels by the American writer, Wallace Stegner, will be the subject of discussion in this class. The Spectator Bird, Angle of Repose, and Recapitulation explore memory and aging through three remarkable main characters: Joe Alston, Lyman Ward, and Bruce Mason. The instructor’s purpose is to create conversation among students related to aging and memory, and to share her knowledge of a deeply admired 20th century American writer.

Gail Wilson Kenna has lived and taught for colleges and universities in five countries, and the United States. Her publications and awards are numerous and include the Donald Axinn Bread Loaf scholarship in fiction.

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The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the Military Trial of the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators ($35)
RCC Glenns Campus
Instructor: Paul Severance
Wednesdays, May 29, June 5, and 12
10 am to 12 pm

This course examines the conspiracy by John Wilkes Booth and others to kidnap Abraham Lincoln to support an ultimate Confederate victory in the Civil War, including how the plan shifted from kidnapping to assassination, the pursuit and capture of the conspirators, their incarceration, and trial by a military tribunal. The controversial military trial was both extensive, legally complex, and frequently misunderstood. The Lincoln assassination conspirators’ trial remains largely unexplored territory.

Dr. Paul Severance served 25 years as a professor of military science at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, and also served as historian and interpreter at the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators restored trial courtroom at Fort McNair. Since February 2013, he has conducted more than 500 presentations on the Lincoln Assassination, the manhunt, apprehension and incarceration of the conspirators and their military trial and verdicts.

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Beginner Pickleball – Warsaw ($35)
Tennis Courts, RCC Warsaw Campus
Instructor: Paul Shrieves
Mondays/Fridays, June 3, 7, 10, and 14
9 am to 10:30 am

This class may be full. Please contact Brittany at bjenkins@rappahannock.edu.

This course is designed for the first-time adult player and will cover the basics of Pickleball rules, terminology, primary skills, coordination, beginner court time, and more. Paddles and balls are provided. Class is limited to 10 students.

Paul Shrieves is an avid pickleball player and is excited to promote the sport in the NNK. He has worked in telecommunications for 47 years starting with C&P Telephone and moved to telecommunications manager for a healthcare provider before starting his own company, Communications International. Paul served two years in the military with 13 months overseas.

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Hand-Formed Pottery Workshop ($45)
RCC Warsaw Campus
Instructor: Carol Sisk
Thursdays, June 6, 20, and 27 (no class June 13 to allow clay to set)
1 pm to 3 pm

This class may be full. Please contact Brittany at bjenkins@rappahannock.edu.

Create a nature-inspired piece of pottery using glazed and fired white porcelain clay. Students can choose between creating wall decor with driftwood or a leaf-shaped decorative and functional bowl, or both!

Carol Sisk, a pottery “hobbyist”, began her love of pottery while taking an art class in middle school and still has the first piece she created! While studying at Grove City College and majoring in Elementary Education, she took Pottery 101 as an art elective and rekindled her love of working with clay. Years later, she began creating and selling her decorative and functional pieces at local farmers’ markets and craft shows.

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Intermediate Pickleball – Warsaw ($35)
Tennis Courts, RCC Warsaw Campus
Instructor: Will Cox
Mondays/Fridays, June 17, 21, 24, and 28
9 am to 10:30 am

This class may be full. Please contact Brittany at bjenkins@rappahannock.edu.

Designed for the adult player who has completed the Beginner Pickleball course. Course emphasis will be on score keeping, improving different strokes with direction to include dink rally, serve/return of serve. Players will work on understanding the fundamentals of the game, proper court positioning, and more. Paddles and balls are provided. Class is limited to 10 students.

Will Cox is a retired dentist. He has competed in tennis leagues and played racquetball and table tennis all of his adult life. Will was introduced to Pickleball in 2020 and has been playing steadily ever since. He and his pickleball partner, Bill, have competed in several pickleball tournaments. He won a gold medal in the Virginia Classic in Richmond and looks forward to helping others get better at this most enjoyable sport.

Register Here!