Pat Clark is quitting her day job. The member of city council has decided to step down as the longtime coordinator for the ElderCollege program.

Clark has overseen ElderCollege since its inception in 2000 and has watched it grow year after year, as more residents sign up for more course offerings.

"I'm the only person who's done this job," she says. "It's grown and grown."

ElderCollege, which operates in partnership with the University of the Fraser Valley, will close for the summer at the end of this week but Clark will continue working until the middle of August when her replacement starts.

"They are just about to begin looking for someone," Clark said.

The program offers educational opportunities for people over the age of 50 in a range of areas, such as computer skills, history, cooking and photography. There are two six-week semesters that operate throughout the year, one which starts in October and one in February.

Interest in Elder College started to boom about five years ago, says Clark, a key reason being the number of course offerings, which grew from a half dozen to approximately 20.

"When we increased the number of courses, of course membership jumped," she said. "Its growth has been a real pleasure to be a part of."

One sign of the size of the program was the number of invitations to a recent tea social, 180, that were sent out to volunteers for the program who help with everything from delivering brochures, registration and office work.

"Another thing I'm really proud of is there's such a volunteer base," Clark said. "It has really been a tremendous group of people to work for and work with."

Part of Clark's decision to step down as program coordinator was that she thought it was time to get someone in who could bring a "new set of eyes" to the program. She is also busy with her other job at city hall.

"Part of my decision was council commitments were taking more of my time," she said.

As to whether she'll have some extra time now to take an ElderCollege course or two, Clark says she is not sure at this point but admits it's tempting.

"It's been very inspiring to watch people go back to school," she said.