ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

Children looking for something fun and education this summer will soon have just that opportunity thanks to Seward County Community College.

Seward County Community College's annual Kids College will be Monday, July 13 through Thursday, July 16, and each day has three sessions – 8 to 9:15 a.m., 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., and then 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Kids College is for children entering first grade through eighth grade, with a cost of $25 for each class. Enrollment is officially under way, and those interested in signing their children up must have a notarized form, ID, and a copy of their insurance card. There will be classes for arts and crafts, job skills, STEM classes, sports, and recreation classes. The last day will feature a pizza and swim party from 12:15 to 2 p.m. For anyone who wants to see the full slate of classes, the brochure is on sccc.edu, as is the registration form, which can be filled out and brought to the SCCC Business & Industry office, or parents can come in and fill everything out in person.

“I'm really looking forward to this year's Kids College and I hope we have a lot of great turnout for each class,” coordinator Sarah Thompson said. “We have already had a ton of people already register, and our notary has been busy since registration opened. If parents want to make sure that their child[ren] gets the classes they are interested in taking, they need to come in sooner rather than later in order to make sure none of the classes that they want aren't already full. As usual, we do have quite a bit of different types of classes to offer, so there's something for everybody. As we say every year, these classes are first come, first serve, so if you want your child to have a guaranteed spot in the class(es) they want, get in soon and get them signed up, because there are some of our classes that fill up particularly quickly. It's always sad when we get someone who comes in late and is disappointed when they're not able to get into the class(es) they want and we ultimately have to just put them in whatever's open. The registration form is available online, so parents can look at it with their children and pick out the class(es) they're most interested in and then they can bring everything in ready to go when they come and enroll.”

The numbers for Kids College have been growing the past few years, Thompson said, and she hopes to see that continue this year.

“The numbers are always kind of hard to predict because our community is amazing and always has a lot to offer throughout the summer, so we never fully know what to expect,” Thompson said. “The main goal, is to get kids onto campus who maybe have never been here, and maybe their parents, and have them see what all is here. It's fun meeting new people, because every year, we have some new teachers. We have a lot of kids who come every single year, and we always have some new faces. It's fun seeing the returners, it's fun meeting the new kids, and it's really neat seeing what classes people come up with.”

Thompson added it is also fun seeing the classes in action.

“While the classes are going on, we're getting snacks ready and preparing everything in between the sessions, but we do go around to try and get into each classroom, and it's just really fun to see the students really engaged and having a good time while they're learning something or being active,” Thompson said. “We really enjoy seeing the students’ enthusiasm for learning – I don't think they necessarily think of Kids College as learning, they think of it more as fun. During regular school, not everything can be a fun science project or some other hands-on activity, but with Kids College, there’s that mix of fun and education, and it's fun to watch them be engaged and having a good time, and not even realize that they're learning while they're doing whatever they’re doing.”

While the current slate of classes is popular, Thompson said ideas for classes for future Kids College sessions are appreciated.

“We'd love to hear from people about ideas for future classes. If there’s something someone wants to teach, we're happy to talk to them and see if it’s feasible,” Thompson said. “Or, if it's an idea something just thinks would be cool, we can take their idea and  talk to some other people and see how we think it may work, and then try and find somebody to teach that class. If we have those ideas ahead of time when we start talking to people and recruiting for Kids College, we can offer those ideas up, because sometimes people want to teach, but they're not sure what type of class they want to teach, or they don’t know if their class idea is even feasible. So if we're able to give some ideas, that's always helpful.”

Overall, Thompson said, she is expecting another successful Kids College.

“Again, come see us as soon as possible, so your child[ren] get the classes they want. We have some computer classes, since competitive video gaming is always popular, and the coding class is always popular,” Thompson said. “We have some food classes, we’ll have the fire academy again with the Liberal Fire Department. We’ll also have the ‘Whodunit?’ class again with the Liberal Police Department, where they get to solve a crime and do interrogations and all of that. That's just a small offering of what we’ll have, and I'm excited to have everything in the brochure. There is something for everybody, and I hope there is a lot of participation.”