College-level classes at WWU help widow adjust to life in new hometown of Bellingham

Life after a death: “I had this realization that I had never done most things by myself,” McGuinness says. “I’d never been to the movies by myself. It felt wrong to be sitting in there alone.”

She decided the only way to make friends was to try something new. She enrolled in the Academy for Lifelong Learning through Western Washington University. It’s a program designed for adults who want to take college-level classes for their own interest.