Highland Senior Center

Italian
Date: October 4, 2019
Time: 9:00 - 10:00 am
Length: 8
Cost: $8 members
      $8 non-members
Instructor: Rita Sicilliano
Location: Game Room
Description: Italian is taught by Margherita Sicilliano. Margherita, who also goes by the names Margo or Rita, and is from the old country. Born in Caserta, Italy, she was actually born in the Italian Royal Palace (the Reggia di Caserta). Her mom was touring the palace when she went into labor. Not many people can say that they were born in a royal palace, much less a UNESCO World Heritage Site! Raised and educated in Italy, she was still in college when she came with her family to the United States. She continued with her education getting a Bachelor's Degree. She then went back to Italy to get her Master's Degree. Her teaching experience spans 42 years and includes teaching high school French, Spanish, and Italian in New York, as well as French and Spanish Advanced Placement classes at the local Aquinas High School. After retiring some friends told her about the center. She took a trip here and discovered a fellow Italian, Virginia Kautzman, and the two became friends. Margo also found out about our University Language classes, and decided to get back into teaching. She approached us about teaching here, and after offering a choice between Italian and German, everyone decided that Italian would be perfect. Now it is the only Italian class being offered in the area. Student’s need to bring only a pencil and paper to class. There is a work book students can purchase through Amazon for $16, but it is not necessary. The class is open to absolute beginners and those who wish to keep up their Italian. A presto! See you soon!

Bunco
Time: Fridays 1:00 pm
Cost: $3 Buy-In members
       non-members
Location: Sun Room
Description: If you're ever here at the Center on a Friday, don't be surprised if you here a bunch of noise coming from the Parlor. Especially if it's yelling, laughing, and bell ringing! It's all just a part of the social game of Bunco. Strictly speaking, bunco is a game of dice, played in rounds. Players take turns rolling the dice and trying to accumulate as many points as possible to win each round. The game is played at tables of four in competing teams of two. Players score points by rolling three dice and trying to match the number they're supposed to roll for that round. They get a point for each die that rolls the number, and if all three roll the number they score 21 points. They also score 5 points for rolling three of a kind of any other number. They get to keep rolling as long as they score one or more points with each roll. Once they fail to score they pass the dice to their left and the opposing team gets a chance to score. During each round the teams at the Head Table try to score 21 points. The first team to score 21 points wins the round and play stops. At all other tables play stops when the Head Table play stops and the team with the highest score at each lower table wins the round. At the end of the round players change seats, the winners at each of the lower tables move up a table, and the losers at the head table move to the lowest table. Players also switch partners at the end of the round, so you never play with the same partner twice in a row. During play, players track the number of rounds they win and lose as a team, and the number of Buncos scored individually, on their personal scorecard. At the end of the night wins/losses and Buncos are tallied. So if having fun sounds fun to you, join the bunco crew every Friday in the Sun Room from 1:00 to 3:00.

Thanks to our Give Big Donors
By: Mike Sylva