Ruth Ward, Quest President

As President of the Quest Council, I’d like to welcome you to a new period in Quest’s development as an inclusive Lifelong Learning Community. Affiliated with the City College of New York, Center for Worker Education, we will remain a self-governing, adult-oriented, peer-learning body, offering courses designed and delivered by our members as active participants in a shared educational and social environment.

After our 25 Broadway home was closed by the pandemic in March 2020, our Zoom Team enabled us to deliver a full schedule of year-round online courses, including two summer Encore programs of live Zoom presentations on a wide variety of topics.

Our current Technology Team, which now encompasses our original Tech Team and our Zoom Team, will be implementing 2021-2022 fall and spring programs aimed at meeting the needs of all our members — both those who intend to come to class in person and those who plan to attend remotely.

Although a few of our planned fall courses will be accessible only at 25 Broadway and a few others will be available only on Zoom, the majority will be taught in a “hybrid” format. The CUNY technical staff has assisted us in the purchase of equipment that will facilitate our presentation of programs in an environment that will accommodate in-person learning while simultaneously allowing members to fully participate in classes from their homes.

Since joining Quest in 2016, I’ve centered my life around giving presentations and coordinating courses. After chairing the Nominations and Elections Committee, I became Editor-in-Chief of the Q Review. I’ve acted with other Questers in a variety of plays, and I’m currently a Co-chair of the Technology Team. All these activities have enabled me to talk to our members about their interests, their concerns, and their wishes. As president, I will be sensitive to what people appreciate or want to improve in our organization. I realize that meeting the needs of all our members is vital. Making Quest more diverse and gender neutral is also important. So is creating new courses that our members will find engaging.

As we go forward, I will do my best to represent your wide-ranging interests and to ensure that Quest continues to extend to our community quality lifelong learning opportunities in an inclusive social atmosphere.