Local third through sixth graders are going to sample college life in the Music and Speech Center from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday.

“There are 150 students coming,” Andrea Shearer, director of the School of Dance, said. “We’re providing different activities for them. They’re going to learn dances while working with members of the Kent Dance Ensemble.”

Shearer said Falcon Academy of Creative Arts is a new school in the Fields Local School District. She added that the school was created to bring the arts into the normal classroom setting. The students are taught with music, art, dance and drama.

“They’re learning about American music composers through the ‘Great American Songbook’, and the teacher has chosen several pieces for the students to record,” Shearer said. “They’re going to use Ludwig Recital Hall to make a CD of the songs.”

She said the students will be split up by grade level and get to sing, dance, see the set of Grease and eat their lunches in the Music and Speech Center’s main lobby. Around 25 Kent State students have volunteered to help with the day’s activities.

“We’re excited for it,” Shearer said. “It’s the first time we’ve gotten to do something like this. I think it will be a fun, good experience for them.”

-Brooke Bower