Kids U brings younger crowd to campus
By Heather Lowhorn
Tootie-ta, tootie-ta, tootie-ta-ta!” A half dozen second and third graders stood at the front of the crowded lecture hall repeating the phrase. “Tootie-ta, tootie-ta, tootie-ta-ta,” they sang, adding an action to their music after each verse. “Thumbs up, elbows back, feet apart, knees together, bottoms up, tongue out, eyes shut.” They incorporated each new action into their tootie-ta song, and by the time they had reached the last verse, their dance was so silly that the spectators and the performers were laughing out loud.
The kids were demonstrating what they had learned about music and movement during Kids University, AU’s two-week summer enrichment program for children held in July. A trail of student-made stepping stones led parents into a short hallway decorated with art projects. Past the paintings and paper weavings, spectators settled in for the brief show that included the music class, a live demonstration of the solar system using papier-mâché planets — with only a slight disruption when Jupiter was dropped and rolled around the stage — and PowerPoint presentations on favorite sports, foods, pets and not-so-favorite siblings. This is just what Betty Bricker, director of Kids University and coordinator of non-credit programs, was hoping for. “We call it experiential hands-on learning,” she says. “I want to see those kids involved. I want to see their hands moving, not just sitting back and watching.”
Each summer approximately 150 students from kindergarten through seventh grade enroll in Kids University. Students can choose from a variety of courses, including Kids and Cash, Baseball Math, Sprechen Sie Deutsche?, Creepy Crawlies, Mini Michelangelos and Electronic Field Trips. Don’t tell the kids, but in the middle of all that fun, they’re actually learning about economics, mathematics fundamentals, German, science, art and computers. Each one-hour class lasted a week, and students have the opportunity to take four classes over the two-week period.
Each year Bricker tries to offer a variety of classes. “We pay attention to what parents are asking for and what teachers are willing to teach,” she says. Most of the ideas are from the teachers, who are all licensed and teaching in the Anderson area.
Lauren Kinney, a fifth grader at Anderson Christian School, enrolled in Art Smart and PowerPoint Presents. “Kids kind of don’t understand [PowerPoint], and this gave us a good chance to do it,” she explains. “I also liked making a hand chime,” she adds, proudly holding up her art project.
“The university sees Kids University as outreach to the community,” Bricker says. “My goal is that these kids will come onto the Anderson University campus, go up and down the stairs, find their classrooms, do experiments in the labs. And when their time comes to go to college, there isn’t any of this, ‘What if I can’t find my building? What if I can’t find my classroom? I don’t want to go.’ They are secure in the fact that they’ve been on a campus, [and they won’t be afraid] whether they go here or to another college,” she explains. “We’d like to see them all come here,” she says with a laugh. Whether they return to AU or attend another school, they’ll undoubtedly remember Kids University as a great learning experience.
