Wednesday’s North Adams Transcript has an article describing how the Berkshire County coordinator for AARP, H. Pim Goodbody, Jr. ‘59, and some current Williams students are helping local seniors fill out their taxes via AARP’s Tax-Aide program.

“The economic department let me go in front of all of their classes. I ended up with seven students, who are still active doing it,” said Goodbody.

“It caught my eye as something interesting,” said Martha Rogers, 20. “I think it is a good thing to give back and help people do their taxes. I’ve never really done much with taxes. My dad usually does them for me, so I thought it would be interesting to learn the system.”

Before the students began doing others’ taxes, Goodbody put them through four nights of classes to teach them how to prepare the tax returns. The students had to study before each class, where Goodbody administered federal tax tests to them.

“They’re pretty quick on the uptake, and they’re completely familiar with computers, which is a giant help in terms of using the software that the IRS gives us,” said Goodbody. “

Sort of a belated Free University course, with community service tossed in.