In addition to being the day of the final event for this year’s session of the Upward Bound Program’s Summer Academy, the first session of Kellogg Community College’s Horizons at KCC summer learning program for youth also ends today, with the Horizons End of Summer Picnic.
The event will begin at noon today at the auditorium in the Davidson Visual and Performing Arts Center on the college’s Battle Creek campus, 450 North Ave., and will include lunch for the students and their families. (The event is not open to the public.)
Twelve area students entering the first grade completed the Horizons at KCC program – which started June 18 – this summer. Wanda Miller, an adjunct instructor at Kellogg Community College and director of Horizons at KCC, said the program was a huge success.
“This first year was a blast, and we are already planning for next year,” Miller said.
In addition to time spent in literacy and STEM classes, this year’s cohort of Horizons at KCC students attended library events including science and magic shows and a presentation about bats. They also visited rescued horses at a private residence, swam at the YMCA and Full Blast, took a trip to the Art Center of Battle Creek, attended a Maranda Park Party in Battle Creek, and participated in a scavenger hunt at Growing Point Pet Center.
Many of the activities they participated in tied in with their instruction as part of the theme for this year’s session, which was “Wild Things,” based on the children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. Miller said holding many of the animals at the pet center in particular was something new and interesting for the students.
“The students were able to engage in hands-on activities to enhance their math and reading skills,” Miller said. “They were also able to have pullout instruction with our literacy specialist to work on individual reading needs.”
Miller said when asked what their favorite part about Horizons was, many of the students said it was swimming at the Battle Creek YMCA , where they spent three afternoons each week during the program.
“Children who were afraid of the water were jumping in the pool toward the end of the program,” Miller said.
The Horizons at KCC program is made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about the program, contact Director Wanda Miller at millerw@kellogg.edu or visit www.horizonsnational.org.
For a photo gallery of the Horizons at KCC students making pizzas at Fox’s Pizza Den during a recent field trip — pictured above — visit Kellogg Community College’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KelloggCommunityCollege/photos.