IUN Kids College helps NWI students discover careers

Chicago Tribune

12-06-2025

For Kyra Shannon, the best part of Indiana University Northwest's Kids College is the bond she creates with students and fellow instructors.
'I like teaching,' said Shannon, a civic leadership instructor and ambassador. 'I like leadership, and I like getting kids in the mindset of (making change).'
Kids College is a two-week summer camp for Northwest Indiana's middle school students. The camp simulates a college experience for children who would typically be first-generation college students or qualify for Indiana's 21st Century Scholars program.
Students can participate in different career paths, including performing arts, technology and medical programs.
Sarah Morris, director of IUN's Kids College, said about 65 students are participating in the camp this year, up from about 50 the year before. Throughout the state, Indiana University hosts six Kids Colleges at its satellite campuses.
'The students can choose a major, and they get to meet faculty, community partners and professionals,' Morris said. 'Then they get to learn what it's like in that major … and learn what different career paths that major could lead them to.'
On Thursday, Best Buy's Geek Squad was at Kids College, helping students who are interested in technology careers. Community partners are important for Kids College, Morris said, because it can get participants more excited about their careers.
Campers Kenyon Workman and Kenneth Suncin both learned about technology careers at this year's Kids College.
This week, both Workman and Suncin have worked on coding, which they both said they're interested in. Both kids have liked coding more as Kids Camp has gone on.
'We're doing this (program) where we had to get a robot out of a maze,' Suncin said. 'After a while, I got focused on decorating (the characters).'
This year was Workman's second year at Kids College, but it was Suncin's first. He joined because his sister had done the camp before, Suncin said.
Aniyah Kelly is going into eighth grade, so this is her final year at Kids College. This year, Kelly participated in the performing arts program, but before, she'd done the medical track.
Kelly is interested in a nursing career, which she said she learned at Kids College.
'I really want to work in a hospital,' Kelly said.
Jaclyn Calvillo is a medical health careers program instructor at Kids College. Throughout the camp, Calvillo said students in the medical program learn about health problems that affect children in their age group.
'For instance, we look at teen suicide, counseling, those types of things,' Calvillo said. 'Is there enough access to health care or not? And what can we do to improve these numbers? How can we create a new system that might work better?'
Calvillo said it's powerful to watch children grow throughout Kids Camp, and she's watched participants become more confident and come out of their shell.
For Morris, it's heartwarming to watch students come back year after year and continue to grow.
'College isn't just about learning,' Morris said. 'I can imagine a lot of these students have a negative experience at their schools, unfortunately, which is so unfair to them. But, at Kids College, we get to provide them with a better learning experience.'