The LBWCC Luverne Center hosted its first &#8220Kids College” this summer, and according to Director Laura Elliott, it was a &#8220great success.”

&#8220We had approximately 60 students, ages 5 through 12, from all of the schools in the county to participate,” Elliott said. &#8220We even had some children from outside of the county to sign up to take classes.

Elliott said that there were ten teachers for this summer's &#8220Kids' College.”

&#8220The kids were able to do all kinds of fun things, but those things had an educational basis to them,” she added.

Some of the activities were done inside the facility, in a classroom, and even outside.

Lynn McCrory of Dozier taught the class &#8220Girl Talk.”

&#8220The children learned all about manicures, hair braiding, and proper social etiquette,” McCrory said. &#8220They also made several crafts, like decorating flip flops.”

McCrory added that one of her favorite assignments for the students was teaching about their self-image.

&#8220We decorated mirrors and studied and talked about the way we perceive ourselves and how we can deal with having poor self-esteem,” she said. &#8220That is so important, especially to young girls these days.”

McCrory, who has a Master's degree in psychology, said that she thinks she &#8220had more fun than the kids did.”

Jackie Sport, who taught &#8220Art Explorer” and &#8220Leap into Literature,” said that this summer's camp had been &#8220a lot of fun.”

&#8220In the art classes, we had different learning stations set up,” she said. &#8220We even studied the Renaissance artists that the Ninja turtles are named after. That's a good way to help the kids remember those names.”

Sport said that during the literature classes, they used art, map reading skills, language skills and poetry to help bring the stories to life.

&#8220I definitely want to do this again next year,” Sport added.

Other teachers for this year's Kids' College included Karen Battle, Robbie Brown, LeAnne Taylor, Denise Compton, Dale Simmons, Wesley Person, Andre Parks and Emily Morgan.

Some of the other classes offered during Kids' College included gymnastics, &#8220Fun Around the World,” and &#8220Computer Whiz.”

&#8220I know that parents liked the fact that they could bring their children to a safe, clean environment on their way to work and know that they are having fun while they learn,” Elliott said. &#8220We were very fortunate to have a highly qualified staff for our Kids' College program, and we look forward to making it even more successful next summer.”