VOLUNTEERING: Kevin Finnigan
The ideal job: Former French teachers still working with students, at Rochester OASIS
By Mike Costanza
After more than eight years with Rochester Oasis, Kevin Finnigan still gets a thrill from working with
his students.
“I get energized by my students,” said the 77-year-old Fairport resident who teaches French for the nonprofit. “It’s just the joy of imparting the knowledge and seeing the other people respond to it.”
Rochester Oasis offers classes in the arts and humanities, wellness, fitness and travel at relatively low cost. Membership in the nonprofit is free for those who are 50 years old and older and live in Monroe County or one of its surrounding counties.
Finnigan has given his life to teaching. He majored in French and minored in the classical languages at SUNY Albany, from which he graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor of the Arts degree. He went on to teach French in public schools in Bainbridge, Fairport, Williamsville and Skaneateles before retiring in 2010.
After a time, Finnigan found he missed working with students and began volunteering for Rochester Oasis. Since then, he has taught as many as three classes per trimester for the nonprofit. Most have been in French, though he has also taught Latin. From the time that the COVID-19 pandemic passed through the area, he’s taught all of his classes remotely.
One group of Finnigan’s students has taken his French classes again and again since he first joined Rochester Oasis. Some in the group, which he calls “The Finnigan Groupies,” didn’t know any French at all when they began taking his classes, but recently did very well on a test. A few of them also demonstrated how well their studies have gone while on a trip to France.
“It gave me great pleasure to see that they were able to get around and meet basic needs without the help of an interpreter,” Finnigan said.
In addition to French, Finnigan is fluent in Spanish and Latin and has a working knowledge of Italian.
“I can make my way through a store and a restaurant in Italy, but I’m not what you would call fluent,” he said.
That came in handy when Finnigan led tour groups to Italy. He has also led groups to France, spent one summer living in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and has visited Holland and Luxembourg.
Asked what his plans are for the next few years, Finnigan said he intends to continue volunteering for Rochester Oasis.
“I have the ideal job right now,” he said.