What could be more fun than heaving rocks and other projectiles into the air? Or learning how to solve crimes using microscopic evidence? Or developing outdoor skills like orienteering, fire building, constellation navigation and knot tying? Or learning to tap dance? Or speak Chinese?

These and other interesting subjects will be offered at the fourth annual Kids In College, a week-long enrichment program for current third through eighth grade students, June 12-16 at Sweet Briar College.

The half-day program runs from 9 a.m. to noon each day, and classes are small – 10 to 16 students. Comprised of SBC faculty, staff and alumnae and other local professionals, KIC instructors build upon each day’s activities to provide a thorough exploration of the topic.

There are 20 classes to choose from, and students select two in which to participate for the week. New offerings this year are Beginning Volleyball; Improve Your Golf; Soccer Fun with Coach Shaw; Explore Biology; DNA and Proteins: It’s All in the Genes; Bluebirds on My Shoulder; Introduction to Tap Dancing; Introduction to Fly Fishing; Outdoor Leadership Adventures; Beginning Quilting, and The History and Science of Catapults and Kin.

“Some of the classes that were added this year are a direct result of the evaluations that we have the parents fill out each year,” KIC program director Pam Simpson said. “They wanted more physical activity classes, so this year we have volleyball and soccer, thanks to the willingness of the two instructors.”

The abundance of new courses should not preclude students from repeating classes they enjoyed in past years, however. “Even though we offer new classes, some kids still sign up for the same class,” Simpson said. “There is one student who is signing up for the pinhole photography class for the third year. She enjoys the class and continues to sign up for it even though her mom would like her to try something new.”

Registration is $80 per child, which includes a KIC T-shirt and all classroom supplies. The lone exception to this is an additional $10 lab fee required for “DNA and Proteins.” Also, this lab-based course will meet during both daily sessions.