Elizabeth Downey attended Indiana University Northwest’s Kids College in the 1990s, and now, she gets to relive it through her daughter — 12-year-old Addison — and help with the program.
“It’s amazing,” Downey said. “Now I’m helping a new generation of students …. Even if it’s not for a long time, they appreciate us being here for them because this is something they’ll remember for at least a little while, if not forever.”
Downey, a junior nursing student at IUN, returned to Kids College as a lead program assistant, helping with students focused on the medical track. She’s worked with the camp for two summers, and Addison has come to both sessions.
Kids College is a weeklong program at IUN that runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Participants get an opportunity to explore careers on four different tracks — health care, law, social media and fine arts — and spend time on campus.
This year, Kids College had 63 participants, with about 60 at IUN’s Tuesday session. The majority of students are from Lake County, but some this year also came from Porter County, according to the university.
Kids College is open to rising sixth- through eighth-grade students who come from low-income households and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Candace Rayburn, Kids College co-director, said she participated in the camp when she was in middle school. Although she doesn’t have specific memories about Kids College, she said she’s happy to give back to the program.
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Glasses Under 100
“It’s full-circle, and it’s fulfilling,” Rayburn said. “It’s really about giving back to the students in this space.”
Although Kids College is a weeklong program, Rayburn would like to see it expand to four weeks. The purpose is to give students some exposure to college, and she thinks that would happen more in a longer program.
Rayburn was born and raised in Gary, so she’s happy to help area children discover higher education and potential careers.
“The students seem very excited about coming to the college campus,” she said. “They’re very excited about having that experience, and they seem to be enjoying their tracks.”
Throughout the week, students will learn lessons along their specific tracks, and then they’ll showcase their findings in a Friday graduation ceremony. Downey said health care students focused on the obesity epidemic.
“We’re going to present on Friday about what obesity is, the challenges of obesity, what we can do to prevent that in middle school, and the things you can do to stay active and eat right,” Downey said.
Brooklyn Bridges, 11; Autumn Long, 14; and Hannah Williams, 11, all attended Kids College on the health care track. Long and Williams went to the program last year, but this was Bridges’ first time. Bridges’ mom signed her up, she said.
“She told me that my dad went, and I didn’t know that I was coming,” she said. “She just signed me up randomly, and now I’m here.”
Although her attendance was a surprise, Bridges said she’s glad she went to Kids College. She plans to use her notes from this week in other classes going forward.
Long and Williams both said they’ve liked going to the summer camp these last two years.
“It’s kind of boring during the summer sometimes,” Long said. “I like to have something to do. And it’s very fun to be with kids your own age and see different types of kids.”
Williams agreed that she likes having something to do, and she thinks the classes are interesting. All three girls said they’re excited for Friday’s graduation ceremony.
“I know I’m going to be stumbling on my words because when I’m in a big crowd, I get nervous,” Williams said. “But I’m excited to present, and I know my mom’s going to be screaming for me because that’s what she did last time.”
Ami Ross, an IUN senior fine arts student, said her daughter attended Kids College when she was in middle school. Ross is a nontraditional student, and she returned to college in 2024 after nearly 30 years away.
She graduated from Gary’s Theodore Roosevelt College and Career Academy in 1993 and attended Indiana State University before having her daughter, who’s now 30 years old.
Ross said her daughter only attended Kids College for one year, but she remembered how much her daughter enjoyed it when she signed up to help.
“It conflicted with her other summer activities,” Ross said. “But she enjoyed it while she was here. She met people, and she learned how to be in college.”
Now, Ross said it’s great to help other children in the program that her daughter once participated in.
“I enjoy all of it,” she said. “I like to just go and sit in all the different tracks and see what they’re learning.”