“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin, into the future…” “Fly Like an Eagle,” Steve Miller Band, 1976

Long before my friends and I started surpassing the half-century mark on this planet, we’d often have discussions that began with the same simple question.

“Do you want to feel old?”

I’m sure many of you who, like me, are at a certain age or even younger have had the same conversations. Usually the follow-up is “so-and-so’s daughter is graduating high school,” or “that album we used to listen to every weekend on the strip is 35 years old,” or the like.

This summer, I added another item to the “makes me feel old” list.

My son, Parker, is currently attending the second week of the Young Scholars’ Institute, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary serving the students of Warren County.

I attended the first-ever version of the same event.

Now, I’m bringing this up not just because it makes me feel old. In fact, these days, what doesn’t? And I don’t bring it up to brag on Parker’s success in school – although that’s an added bonus.

The real impetus for bringing up YSI is to applaud the directors and teachers who have made the event an ever-expanding success since 1984.

I still look back fondly on my first YSI, which – according to an article in the Southern Standard archives I found this week – was the brainchild of a committee made up of parents, supervisors and teachers and formed under the guidance of School Superintendent Bryan Knight. The program was initially directed by Donna Trevathan, and gave 210 students the chance to choose their own courses of study in a wide variety of topics taught by local educators and other experts.

My personal favorites back then were a field archery class taught by George Bolding, along with a biology course taught by Jackie Haley. The latter featured students dissecting several creatures, including a fetal pig – a lesson so popular, the name of the course was later changed to “Pigology.”

It made for a great few days in the early summer for kids who, perhaps, weren’t going to be excelling on the baseball and softball diamonds, or heading to the lake, or taking thrilling family vacations. It made us feel special, because we were chosen and invited. It made us feel, as the name suggests, that we were “scholars.”

Over the years, the program has expanded to two week-long sessions, allowing it to nearly triple the number of students it serves, and those students travel all around Warren and surrounding counties for fun-filled days of learning and recreational activities.

Congratulations to everyone who has kept YSI alive, and thriving, through its 40-year history. Here’s to 40 more years of making learning fun.

And just in case you wondered if there’s anything else I feel old about this morning, I just came back from interviewing a sheriff’s department investigator who I used to watch play basketball when he was in elementary school. 

Time just keeps on slippin’.

Standard News Editor Rob Nunley can be contacted at rnunley@southernstandard.com