Carving knives in hand, a group of students in a South High School classroom watched their instructors demonstrate various cuts on a piece of cedar wood.
While for most students it was the first class in a winter woodcarving session offered through Minneapolis Community Education, it marked Robie Ryan‘s third time participating in the course. Ryan said she enjoyed doing something with her hands and learning from the instructors, who are fun and engaging. But the craft itself wasn’t why Ryan had taken a chance on the class.
“I was like, let me do the community ed thing and see if I can meet people,” said Ryan, 29, as she worked on a wooden bird. “It’s social, they teach us something, but for most of the two hours, I’m sitting, I’m carving, I’m chatting.”
Interest in community education classes in Minnesota is growing among younger participants as more people seek out third spaces — gathering places beyond work and home — and opportunities to connect with their neighbors.
Community education began in Minnesota in 1969 with the formation of the Minneapolis program. The programming was intended to “make maximum use of the public schools of Minnesota by the community,” or to utilize school buildings that would otherwise be empty in summer months and after dark.

Across the state, Minnesota has seen a notable increase in class registrations among younger adults in their 20s and 30s who are seeking personal development or recreational opportunities, said Matt Dickhausen, executive director of the Minnesota Community Education Association.
Upstairs from the wood-carvers, a group of students with clay-stained hands sat behind pottery wheels, shaping — or attempting to — their first clay projects.
For student Jamie Tan, community ed is an opportunity to to connect with new people — and old friends. She signed up for the pottery class with a high school friend, Erika Storvick, who sat beside her at her wheel.