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Camps for Learning Get Scholarship Boost

By June 4, 2009January 16th, 2019No Comments

“KICK” programs made more accessible for area youth

Kirkwood Community College is offering a host of ways for “tweens” and early teenagers to discover new ideas, make friends—and possibly explore a future career. The Kirkwood Interactive Camps for Kids, or KICK Camps are set to begin later in June.

To make these learning experiences a reality for more students, the college has also invested a healthy sum of scholarship funds to ensure more young people can experience these productive summer projects.

The dozens of camps are designed for students entering 5th through 9th grades. Camp themes range from the science behind athletics and crime scene investigations to flight simulators, rockets and free-form drumming.

Kirkwood Executive Director of Continuing Education Programming Kim Johnson said the scholarship grants will help interested families on tight budgets take advantage of the interactive learning opportunities.

“The college leadership saw the fun and involvement we generated with the 2008 camp series and offered to make the camps possible for more young people in our area. Kirkwood has committed enough funds to support all interested students who qualify for these scholarships. We want to make sure that a family facing financial challenges doesn’t have to defer their child’s opportunity to discover new talents and ideas. For people recovering from our floods, layoffs or other difficulties, we wanted to send a message that there could still be a bright spot in a kid’s life this summer,” Johnson said.

Students in the area that qualify for free or reduced lunch at their school are entitled to full camp tuition support.

Several of the KICK camp sessions still have openings, with many planned for late June through early August. Some of the themes include:

—“Air School,” a chance for kids to discover what it takes to be a pilot. Students will discover the natural principles that make and airplane fly, how controls and instruments work, and how they navigate through the sky. After learning lots about planes, students will spend the last day at the Eastern Iowa Airport and get to see, touch and experience airplanes. This program will be held twice in Monday-Friday sessions, June 15-19 and August 10-14, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

—A special musical camp will get young people into their own rhythmic groove. The nationally noted traveling group Sheltered Reality will bring spirited musical discovery to Kirkwood June 23-25, 1 to 5 p.m. in Ballantyne Auditorium. The Sheltered Reality members will give drum lessons, choreography lessons and the concept of success to are youngsters.

—Two camps will put learning up in the air—literally. A Rocket Camp begins June 24, teaching the fundamentals of designing, building and flying model rockets. Students will have a blast while discovering aerodynamics, flight stability and rocket propulsion. Then they get to take their rockets home. Also, kids can put their skills into the sky with a “Remote Control Airplane Flight Academy,” a four-day program beginning July 29. Students will have both simulator and real-model flight experience while they discover what makes all powered flight possible. This program will be held at MidAmerican Hobbies, 9 a.m. to noon.

—Several other camps will get kids into the realities of science. A “Crime Scene Investigators” session puts young people into simulated investigations right out of the CSI TV series. This course is in two sessions, July 6-8 and July 13-15, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Kirkwood Center for Continuing Education. “Germs, Fungus and Slime, Oh My!” lets kids explore the microbiology all around us, July 8-10 from 1 to 5 p.m. And, budding stars of the diamond and gridiron can discover the science behind fastballs and forward passes in the “Science of Athletes” camp. This popular offering is set for two Monday-Friday sessions, beginning June 22 and July 6 at the Michael J Gould Kirkwood Recreation Center.
Scholarship applications and registrations will be accepted through June 30. More information on the camps and scholarship support are available by calling Kirkwood’s Continuing Education office, (319) 398-5529, or via the college Web site:

www.kirkwood.edu/kick