Kamloops Adult Learners Society (KALS) is a community of actively engaged learners who are interested in exploring and understanding a broad range of topics, sharing ideas, and meeting others who have similar interests. Classes are usually two hours in length and are single-session or multi-session of two to ten weeks duration.
Membership is required to register. For more information about membership, click here.
How To Register for Courses
On-line by clicking the online registration button:
In person on McArthur Island at 1550 Island Parkway Dr. through-out the semester during office hours Monday-Friday 9am-4pm (Closed from 12pm-1pm). Credit, cash or cheque
Register by Phone by Calling 1-250-376-1525
*Single session courses are non-refundable. Multi session courses are refundable with a $10 cancellation fee.
Single Session
Multi Session
The first class will be a lecture on One Health to set the stage. This will be followed by three more lectures on research activities at Cheeptham Cave Microbiology Lab such as, drug discovery from cave bacteria, biocement potential from cave bacteria, microbial degradation of microplastics, probiotics for bats against White Nose Syndrome, bacteriophages as alternative treatment for multi-drug-resistant infections, innovative microbiology education (art and science). A short (15 minute) reading assignment will be offered before some classes to facilitate discussions.
Naowarat (Ann) Cheeptham
Dr. Cheeptham is internationally recognized for her pioneering research on cave microbiomes, drug discovery, and the fight against multidrug-resistant infections. Her work has been featured in outlets such as The New York Times, WIRED, and CBC’s Nature of Things, and she has earned honours including the 2022 3M National Teaching Fellowship, the TRU Faculty Excellence Award, and the D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning.
Tuesday November 17, 2026 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Tuesday November 24, 2026 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Tuesday December 1, 2026 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Tuesday December 8, 2026 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
This introductory session will be a jazz based class focusing on motor skills, balance and function. There will first be a discussion of the brain/body value of movement, then a chance to move! The class will be guided by Heather Clark, a professional dance and fitness instructor, who has a passion for mobility and longevity.
Heather Clark
Heather has 35 years of dance teaching experience. She has toured internationally and has directed and produced over 10 of her own shows. Heather currently runs Kamloops Performance Company.
Wednesday November 18, 2026 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Single Session
Multi Session
Join an expedition ship sailing from Iceland to Greenland in the Wake of the Vikings. Then enjoy a land add-on with a trip to the Greenland icecap followed by a visit to Ilulissat, the iceberg capital. Learn about the history and culture of this land so much in the news recently.
Helen Parkyn
Born in England and trained as a nurse and midwife, Helen Parkyn spent 3 years working her way around the world and could find nowhere better to live than BC. After various postings, two years of university work, and a posting with the BC Health Service, she retired from work but not from travelling. Helen is one of the few people who has visited over 100 countries and still loves to travel.
Thursday November 19, 2026 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
Although there is debate on whether Palestine and Palestinians have ever existed, the area and its indigenous people have a long history. Much of the news that comes to us through the Western press has an Israel/Israeli slant. Very often the history of Palestine is ignored or downplayed. In this class, Dawne will offer a perspective of the Palestinians through the centuries up to and including the present conflict.
Dawne Taylor
Dawne is a retired Christian minister with an on-going and long standing interest in Palestine/Israel history and affairs. She has been to the area twice, and came back from each visit with two entirely different perspectives.
Monday November 23, 2026 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
Ten years after moving from Iran to Canada, urban planning graduate and non-profit leader Sadie looks back on a decade of growth, personal pivots, and community building. In this presentation, she maps her journey from the historic streets of Tehran to Ontario, and eventually, to a life-changing six-day drive across Canada that brought her home to Kamloops. Drawing a beautiful parallel between the patient, environment-dependent process of sourdough baking and the immigrant experience, Sadie offers a warm and grounded look at how we adapt, cultivate resilience, and ultimately find our unique rise in the places we call home.
Sadie Hejuzi
Sadie holds a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Tehran and a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) certificate from Fanshawe College in Ontario. Over the years, Sadie has applied her technical expertise globally and locally, from humanitarian mapping with the United Nations, the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), and Crowd2Map Tanzania, to contributing to infrastructure mapping projects in Waterloo. In Kamloops, she has dedicated her career to the non-profit sector, currently serving as Co-Executive Director of the Kamloops Food Policy Council, overseeing programs and operations. Alongside her leadership, she continues to support Indigenous and municipal planning projects through community engagement, research, data analysis, and GIS mapping.
Wednesday November 25, 2026 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
The exploration of the Northwest Passage has been a fascinating chapter in Canadian history. For centuries, explorers tried to find this fabled route to the riches of the Orient. The most famous expedition was led by Sir John Franklin in 1845, and the disappearance of his two ships and 129 men launched 30 years of searches and discoveries. Today, the Northwest Passage is traversed by cruise ships, and visitors are awed by the spectacular vistas of the Arctic. Roland Neave has travelled extensively through the Northwest Passage, and was one of the first tourists to have the thrill of visiting the sight of the sunken shipwreck Erebus, the Franklin ship that was discovered in 1914. This group also visited the Franklin graves on Beechey Island and explored by Zodiac the tidewater face of Crocker Glacier. Roland will share his knowledge of the history of the Northwest Passage highlighted by slides of his Arctic expedition.
Roland Neave
Roland and his wife, Anne, are passionate community advocates who aim to preserve the natural world through philanthropy and education. Together they received honorary degrees from TRU in 2022. Roland was a Cariboo College student from 1970 to 1972, then transferred to Simon Fraser University. During the summers, he organized bus tours to Wells Gray Park, a business which grew into the largest outdoor tour company in BC.
Thursday November 26, 2026 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
This lecture explores the origins, the evolution and the role of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in shaping Canada’s national identity. From its beginning as the Northwest Mounted Police to its transformation into today’s RCMP, the force’s contributions to frontier justice, law enforcement and Canada’s international reputation is legendary. Join Paulette for a nuanced look at Canada’s most iconic police force in the world. A zoom class, you may enjoy in the comfort of your home or in the company of others at KSC.
Paulette Breau
Paulette is a retired RCMP Sergeant, who served for 30 years from 1987 until 2017. Upon her retirement, she wrote a memoir of her experiences as a female police officer in a male-dominated profession. Paulette taught at Fanshawe College as part of the police foundations program and also at the Ontario Police College, teaching new recruits how to become police officers. In her spare time, she lectures on Royal Caribbean cruise lines in Alaska
Monday November 30, 2026 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
All That You Change Changes You shines a light on Laura St. Pierre’s decade-long approach to two survivalist tropes: scavenging and sowing. Borrowing its title from the opening lines of Parable of the Sower (1993), a novel by the late author, Octavia E. Butler, this exhibition brings together works made over the last decade, all produced against the backdrop of a built environment transformed by absence and adaptation.
Kristen Gardner
Kristen is the Educator and Public Program Director for the Kamloops Art Gallery. Prior to holding this role, she served as the School and Youth Programs Coordinator for 4 years. Kristen holds a Bachelor’s Fine Arts degree from TRU (2002) and a Diploma in Digital Arts and New Media from Selkirk College (2017). Passionate about arts education, she believes in the power of art to build meaningful connection and create transformative spaces for engagement in learning.
Tuesday December 1, 2026 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
Providing physical activity guidance for the population is very general at 150 minutes of exercise per week, but we know that the benefits differ from one person to the next. Individualized exercise recommendations that maximize the benefits are being developed in the hopes of improving health and well-being. The goal of the research is to create daily, tailormade exercise regimes based on physiology and physical fitness.
Mark Rakobowchuk
Mark Rakobowchuk PhD completed his first degree at the University of Ottawa in Human Kinetics. After many great research experiences in areas ranging from cardiac rehabilitation to environmental physiology, he continued his studies at McMaster University completing both a Master’s and a PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology. To gain more research experience, Mark completed a Post Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Leeds Multidisciplinary Cardiovascular Research Centre before becoming a Lecturer/Senior Researcher at the University of Essex and then Brunel University London. Finally, after a more prolonged stay in England than was expected, Mark accepted an Assistant Professor position at Thompson Rivers University where he continues his work researching the links between health, stress, and physiology. This work ranges from whole body performance to cell and molecular assessments.
Thursday December 3, 2026 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
Space is no longer the domain of governments alone. Private companies are launching satellites, planning lunar bases, and racing toward Mars. Yet the legal frameworks governing all of this were written before Neil Armstrong took his first step. This session explores what the law says about who owns the solar system, who’s responsible when things go wrong, and what the coming decades might mean for how humanity — and the law — adapt to life beyond Earth. No legal background required.
Jack Nelson
Jack is an Assistant Professor of Law at Thompson Rivers University. His teaching and research focus is air and space law. His work has been cited in publications from NASA, the United States Institute of Peace, the European Parliament and the United States Congressional Research Service. From 2022 to 2025, he was the Editor of the Annals of Air and Space Law, produced by the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University.
Wednesday December 9, 2026 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
Adapting to extreme environments is something humans are very good at and in this session we will examine how we can adapt to different stresses such as altitude, temperature and zero gravity environments. Depending on the task, some performances are actually enhanced under what would be, at first thought, unfavourable conditions whilst others can be managed with ingenious strategies.
Mark Rakobowchuk
Otzi Mark Rakobowchuk, PhD completed his first degree at the University of Ottawa in Human Kinetics. After many great research experiences in areas ranging from cardiac rehabilitation to environmental physiology, he continued his studies at McMaster University completing both a Master’s and a PhD in Cardiovascular Physiology. To gain more research experience Mark completed a Post Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Leeds Multidisciplinary Cardiovascular Research Centre before becoming a Lecturer/Senior Researcher at the University of Essex and then Brunel University London. Finally, after a more prolonged stay in England than was expected, Mark accepted an Assistant Professor position at Thompson Rivers University where he continues his work understanding the links between health, stress, and physiology. This work ranges from whole body performance to cell and molecular assessments.
Thursday December 10, 2026 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Single Session
Multi Session
North and South America were the last continents to be settled by Homo sapiens, but the story of when, where and how remains a fascinating mystery. Were the first migrants Ice Age hunters crossing the Bering land bridge, or seafarers following a Pacific coastal route? Drawing on evidence from archaeology, genetics and climate science, this talk takes us through the competing theories and the recent discoveries now reshaping them. This a Zoom presentation. You can view it in the company of others in the Sports Centre classroom, or, should you wish, in your own home.
Wolfgang Schneider
Wolfgang Schneider studied chemistry and biology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and eventually settled in Montreal. After several years doing research, he started a career as a clinical chemist supervising the biochemistry labs of the Montreal General and the Sacré-Coeur Hospital.
Friday December 11, 2026 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Register Now
How To Register for Membership
On-line by clicking the online registration button:
In person on McArthur Island at 1550 Island Parkway Dr. through-out the semester during office hours Monday-Friday 9am-4pm (Closed from 12pm-1pm). Credit, cash or cheque
Register by Phone by Calling 1-250-376-1525