College for Kids, the popular summer learning venue hosted by Aims Community College, returned to Loveland this week, bringing fun activities to local students on summer break with the hopes of teaching them new skills and interesting them in higher education when they reach the proper age.
Held across the Front Range, College for Kids is typically hosted at Aims’ various campuses across the region in cities including Greeley and Fort Lupton, but because the Loveland Aims campus is relatively small, the community college partnered with the Thompson School District to use its facilities for the program during the summer.
Ellis Johnson, 13, center left, listens along with other students during a lesson and discussion Thursday during the Power Up! class at College for Kids at Peakview Academy at Conrad Ball in Loveland. The class focussed on emotional well-being, covering topics ranging from bullying to proper diet. (Jenny Sparks/Loveland Reporter-Herald)This year, classes in everything from fencing and jewelry making to babysitting and social-emotional health were offered to students between the ages of 9 and 12 at Peakview Academy at Conrad Ball.
Previous years’ programs were hosted at Ferguson High School, but according to Aims Director of Admissions Fabián García, Peakview is an even better location.
“It was a great site too, but this fits the demographics of the students better,” García said of Peakview, which serves students between kindergarten and eighth grade. “This has been ideal.”
The sessions are held for one week in each city where Aims has a campus between Monday and Thursday. Registration is closed for this year, but Aims holds the program every summer
Loveland was up first this week, and the program will move to Fort Lupton next week. Windsor and then Greeley will follow. Classes are held from 9 a.m. until around 3:30 p.m., with lunch provided.
This year, around 165 students attended the Loveland site for College for Kids.
Notable new classes this year include a social-emotional wellness class called “Power Up!”
The session, taught by partners from Youth Empowerment Group, a volunteer organization of psychologists, counselors and medical professionals from Weld County, encourages various healthy behaviors like effective stress relief, interpersonal skills and healthy diets.
“We now have the highest rate of mental health problems in youth,” according to Laurie Berdahl, a retired OB-GYN and a volunteer with the group. “It is a national emergency to address this by teaching kids the life skills they need to get through the stresses and pressures they encounter.”
Returning favorites at College for Kids were available as well, such as Mad Science, a popular choice among students.
On Thursday, the students were performing physics experiments including an “egg drop,” where students built a box containing an egg and tried to construct it so that the egg wouldn’t break when the box was dropped around 7 feet to the ground.
“We put soft stuff to protect the egg,” said 11-year-old Kayson Galarza, who was designing a box with a small team. “We tried to put stuff on the side but it didn’t work, but we have soft paper, stuffed animal fluff. We made designs.”
Their efforts were a success: after the box was dropped and cut open, the egg inside remained intact.
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