By SUSAN CATLING

Subjects from the recreational to the practical brought Vineyarders out in the cold and dark to attend Adult Community Education of Martha’s Vineyard (ACE MV) classes at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School this fall.

Educator and program director Lynn Ditchfield announced that the first trimester attracted 154 students to 16 classes. Of those, about 30 gathered at the high school last Friday to celebrate the end of the fall term and to share a bit of what they learned with fellow students.

The Salsa Dancing class, led by Saskia Vanderhoop and joined by their volunteer partners, put on a demonstration, John Ortman performed a monologue as part of Brian Ditchfield’s Playwriting class, and Jannette Vanderhoop provided a display of items she used in her Introduction to Native America.

Actress Brooke Hardman Ditchfield offered a course in Understanding Shakespeare. “We learned Shakespeare from an acting perspective and she almost had us acting,” student Dorris Housman said. She chose to read a passage from A Midsummer Night’s Dream while her husband Edward, who learned how to write a sonnet in class, read an original work.

Spanish teacher María Clara Villota invited the group to join in singing La Cucaracha while Portuguese instructor Tamara King passed out lyrics and recruited some members of the Salsa class to sing “Amor Perfeito.”

With 24-hour’s notice, musician Willy Mason’s class on the history and technique of musical composition wrote and performed this impromptu salute to honor ACE.

Adult continuing education

Where the learning never dies

Adult continuing education

Students reaching for the skies

A refresher course

Or something new

You can drive a Porsche

Or Subaru

In the winter on the Vineyard

It’s dark and there’s nothing to do

But we’ve got ACE of Martha’s

Vineyard

So we know that simply isn’t true

A refresher course

Or something new

Salsa, Shakespeare

Computers too

Adult continuing education

Where the learning never dies

Class member Cindy Krauss, a guitar-playing church musician, said most of the students had written songs already. “But it was so great to work with Willy on melody and lyric writing — he got our creative juices flowing.” She even convinced her daughter Melanie, who plays three instruments, to join the class.

ACE relies on advice from a diverse group of board members who have similar goals, including Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, MVTV, the Trustees of Reservations, a number of individuals, and the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools — the main partner, as they provide the classroom space.

Board member and retired teacher Nan Doty stresses that ACE can provide, “different streams of courses in different interest areas. Energy and computer classes combined with job training can feed new skills to people who live here.”

“Our long-term goals include a community college and, beyond that, a four-year school,” said Lynn Ditchfield.

The next session, which runs from Jan. 12 to Feb. 13, offers continuations of some of the language, arts and computer classes but features new subjects from The Secret Life of Shells and Introduction to Fencing to Basic Carpentry for Women and Self-Hypnosis — don’t try this before driving home from class.

Details will be available online at acemv.org in early December. Most classes are $125 for a five-week session but there are one-night seminars for $35. A spring semester will run March 9 to April 10. Students can reach Lynn Ditchfield directly at 508-693-1033, extension 240, or at lynn@acemv.org.