They come by car and bus from as far away as Vermont on Tuesdays and Thursdays for seven weeks in the fall. All 350 are at least 55; many are much older. They are not official Skidmore students, but they certainly enjoy the Skidmore experience. They're participants in the College's hugely popular Mature Learners Lecture Series, which has been packing Gannett Auditorium since the early 1980s.

For more than 30 years, that's what has kept participants in Skidmore's Mature Learners Lecture Series coming back.