An educational jump-start
By Katie Gaab, contributing writer
Posted on January 25, 2007

Former ROTC Director Nick Swayne has always been interested in volunteerism. Now, coupled with his direct experience with students, he’s taken that fascination and created an educational enrichment program in which Harrisonburg middle schoolers can participate.

“We are working at enriching students who are interested in subjects that can’t be fully explored through the public schools,” Swayne said.

The “College for Kids” program, which is in its first year, was created through the efforts of Swayne and a CISAT professor.

This Saturday’s enrichment program, which will take place every Saturday for six weeks, is different because the students get to learn with JMU professors and students, allowing the two communities to connect.

“Memorial Hall not only provides additional space; the building is also a connector between the community and the college,” said Lisa Shull, director of the Harrisonburg’s Children’s Museum. “We’re pleased to strengthen that relationship while giving children an opportunity to expand their horizons.”

The enrichment classes offered include painting, sculpting, steel drumming and mechanical engineering with the use of Lego robots. The program is selective when admitting students, so a recommendation letter from both a parent and a teacher was required in addition to a $130 application fee. Despite this, the news spread fast, gathering 13 students in robotics, seven in steel drum and five in art.

“It will be a very hands-on type of lesson, in which kids will learn by exploring programming with the Lego robots,” Ralph Grove, JMU robotics programming professor, said of the robotics program.

Although this is the first attempt at the six-week program, JMU professors and students are very excited about working with the middle-school students.

“I was happy to learn about another service to the community that JMU faculty offer,” said Joseph D. Rudmin, a full-time staff member with Lab Operations Technical Support at ISAT.

Many of the mediums and styles taught in middle-school art classes aren’t fully explored, giving Jennike Horacek, a JMU junior majoring in studio art, an opportunity to step it up a notch.

Horacek said students will experience printmaking inspired by Swiss painter Paul Klee, painting in abstract and realistic styles. Students will also be able to try sculpting, bookmaking and collage.

Music instructor Michael Overman has a different goal for his steel drum class.
“The overall structure of the course is to put together a small concert, which will be performed at the end of the six-week course,” Overman said. “We spend time learning the steel drums, and also some hand percussion and rhythm grooves.”
 
Given the classes only run for six weeks, Overman teaches by rote, which is when he plays a note and the students echo it back to him.

“If participating in this program for these six weeks gets seven more kids and their parents and siblings to come to JMU’s Steel Band Concert later this spring, then I will consider it a success,” Overman said.

JMU professors will have to amend their teaching styles to cater to a much younger and more distracted demographic.

“Since I’m accustomed to working with adults, putting on a class for children is always a challenge for me,” Grove said. “I hope to learn more about how to interact in the classroom with children.”

Still, professors are excited about the prospect of introducing students to the hands-on lesson that builds on their basic engineering, musical and art skills. Overman has taught private basic percussion lessons to all ages for 15 years, but this is a different classroom setting.

“That teaching paradigm does not lend itself very well to the steel drum, because the student would need their own drum to practice, and they also wouldn’t have the band to play with,” Overman said. “So this College for Kids program is the first time that a situation has come up to allow the extended, hands-on experience.”

For Horacek, teaching in the College for Kids program has expanded her love for education, as she is seeking her K-12 teaching licensure.

“Although fairly small, art education is a strong and growing program at James Madison with a waiting list of two years,” Horacek said. “JMU has an outstanding art education program that has inspired me to be an art educator.”

With the growing interest of middle-school students and the help of JMU professors and students, College for Kids has thus far proven to be a success, teaching both teachers and students.