Tim Radden teaches the proper technique for an archery class during the Kent for Kids program Monday. Kent for Kids provides enrichment activities, sports and games for children while their parents attend summer classes. MICHELE ROEHRIG | SUMMER KENT STAT

Credit: Steve Schirra

Children laughed and played outside of Fletcher Hall as Kent for Kids kicked off its second of four two-week sessions that run through Aug. 4.

The program, now in its 30th year, provides enrichment activities to children while allowing adult students time to attend summer courses.

The program begins at 9:15 a.m. and runs through 3:30 p.m. Children may stay for one class or all day depending on the parents’ needs. For an additional fee, parents can drop their kids off earlier or have them stay later.

“I like the hours and the activities,” said accounting major Angela Atkins. “It really works out well for us.”

Atkins, a mother of two, relies on Kent for Kids as an alternative for daycare. She is taking six credit hours this summer.

“By exposure, kids learn about college,” said Linda Mihalik, Outreach Program coordinator.

Kindergartners through eighth graders can participate in a variety of classes ranging from the arts, to math and science and to sports.

Children can build friendships and interact with university students.

“It’s good for future (Kent State) recruits,” mother Jennifer Wang said. Her two children, Debra and David, attended the program for more than six years while she took classes. Her husband, Paul, is a computer science professor at the university. David, 14, still attends Kent for Kids, but now as a volunteer.

The most popular classes are fencing, archery and rocketry.

Wang’s daughter Debra, now an adult, first learned fencing at Kent for Kids and still participates in the sport today.

“My kids really like that Wacky Wild Life class a lot,” Atkins said. “They look forward to coming.”

The program is sponsored by the College of Continuing Studies and is directed by Tim Radden, who has been with Kent for Kids for more than a decade.

“I highly recommend it,” Wang said. Registration runs until mid-July.

For more information, visit the Kent for Kids Web site at www.ccs.kent.edu/kfk.

Contact international affairs and regional campus reporter Alaina Robbins at [email protected].