OceanView’s Enrichment Academy is a series of programs and activities that combine physical, mental and spiritual wellness – and a whole lot of fun, too.
Constantly on-the-go, OceanView residents take scenic day-trips on the Casco Bay Ferry to explore Portland’s coast, ride up to Boothbay Harbor for shopping and lunch, to North Conway to see the covered bridges and the foliage in the fall. We also head own to the Peabody Essex Museum for special art exhibitions or just over to the Lobster Shack at Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth for a lobster roll, in addition to weekly grocery shopping trips and jaunts to the Maine Mall. We have been taking longer excursions as well – we visited Campobello and Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada in September 2010, and we spent ten gorgeous, spring days in Ireland in April of 2011.
Back at home, we celebrate birthdays with monthly wine and cheese parties, enjoy block parties in each of our cottage neighborhoods throughout the summer and welcome new residents with a tea held in their honor. We settle into our own state-of-the-art screening room for classic films and new releases (yes, there’s popcorn too – just help yourself!) as well as college-level courses covering topics like The Rise and Fall of China and The History of Italian Art.
Every August, we revel in the Maine summer with our Annual Lobster Bake and in October, we celebrate OceanView’s anniversary with themed extravaganzas. This year, we celebrated our 25th year with a Sparkling Silver Anniversary party!
We love to invite musicians to our community to play for our residents and guests, too! We enjoy renowned classical pianists, jazz duets, country groups, classically trained vocalists and ethnic musicals, as well as folks who play old favorites just for fun. We provide van transportation to Portland Symphony Orchestra and other musical and theatrical offerings – The Portland Stage Company, Portland Ovations, Portland Players, Lyric Theatre, and Maine State Music Theatre, among others.
Resident-led groups and committees keep OceanView residents involved in their own Activities Program. The Men’s Discussion Group gathers faithfully each week and the Current Events Group exchanges their views on local, national and international news. We have a growing group of “Grand-Buddies” and “Senior Teachers” who enjoy working with children from neighboring Plummer-Motz elementary school. We “load the bus” each year with food from our campus-wide “Operation Thanks Food Drive” and recently collected gently used school supplies to send to children in developing countries who need them to go to school. A particularly energetic group plans weekly hikes and adventures during the warmer months, and the OceanView Red Hat Ladies have lunch every month or so at different, locally-owned restaurants in Yarmouth, Falmouth or Portland. Residents run their own Council, a busy Library Committee, several bridge groups, and much more.