MILWAUKEE — The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s College for Kids and Teens program is providing grade school students with the opportunity to gain new skills, while learning in a college classroom.

“It’s an enrichment program where students K5 through 12th grade have the chance to come to UWM and get a college-like experience,” said program director Ben LaDuke. “They get to travel from classroom to classroom and building to building and take classes with college professors and teachers from all over the city.”

College for Kids and Teens has been on UWM’s campus since the summer of 1980. It serves kids across Milwaukee County, across Wisconsin and across the country. It has even attracted international students. The program sees between 600 and 800 kids each summer.

“Our two-week classes are called Sessions and we offer three classes daily,” LaDuke said. “We also offer one-week courses, which are called Discovery Camps.”

The registration fee for Session classes ranges from $154 to $174 per class. Discovery Camp classes range from $99 to $105 per class. About 150 kids each summer receive scholarships to attend classes for one week, or sometimes, the entire summer.    

“Some kids come to our program as a five-year-old and go home to their parents and say ‘I got to be in college today,” LaDuke said. “There are some students who may have never seen that as a possibility for themselves in the future.”

Nine-year-old Ada Brylow took pottery this summer. Already a lover of arts and crafts, Brylow said it’s also been an outlet for her and a way tomato friends.

“I don’t have many friends and I’m almost the least popular girl in school so, I mostly do arts and crafts,” she said. “I made some friends, lost them over this past year, but then found new friends here.”

Instructor Geryn Roche teaches Introduction to Ceramics and 2-D design courses at UWM. This was her first summer teaching for College for Kids. She said her favorite part is watching the kids grow artistically and socially.

“Usually the first day, everyone stays to themselves,” she said. “By the end of the week, the studio is buzzing, and it’s been great to see kids come out of their shell and come into their own.”

They offer 250 different classes each summer, from pottery to rocket-making, to coding.

“I love that there’s something for everyone,” Brylow said. “I’ve learned a lot of different things and all of them have been really fun.”

College for Kids and Teens will resume again next June. To see a course catalog, click here.