Children curious about the collegiate experience can get their academic feet wet with Sweet Briar College’s “Kids In College” program on June 13-17. The third-annual campus program for third- through eighth-graders offers 21 courses encompassing science investigations, German, music, acting, dance, poetry, photography, sign language, golf, fencing, and athletic training.

SBC faculty and staff members and their spouses volunteer their time to teach KIC classes. This year’s event introduces two alumnae teachers, Lynn Martin ’95 and Samantha Angus ’05, who will lead classes in “Poetry Adventures” and creative choreography and dance, respectively. Several children of faculty and staff members provide volunteer assistance to the instructors.

Jill Granger, SBC associate professor of chemistry, conceived KIC as a way to keep a summer learning program for kids in the area after “New Horizons,” a similarly structured Amherst County Schools program, was canceled for budgetary reasons. Led by Pam Simpson, SBC chemistry lab manager, KIC has grown from offering 12 classes at its 2003 inception to the current 21, with student enrollment increasing from 129 to 154. The program was originally advertised only in Lynchburg and Nelson and Amherst counties, but now draws students from around the region, including home-schooled students, and kids from as far away as North Carolina.

The seed money for KIC came from the SBC President’s discretionary fund. Sweet Briar alumna Lucy Kimbrough ’77 of Farmersville, Texas, has donated approximately $1,000 to the program over the past two years for scholarships. The funds benefit students who show a financial need and who would not otherwise be able to attend the program without the scholarship.

For more information on “Kids In College,” please contact Pam Simpson at (434) 381-6388 or psimpson@sbc.edu.