300 Fourth-Graders to Get Glimpse of College Life As Smith Celebrates National College Week

A year ago, Smith College President Ruth Simmons visited the Martin Luther King, Jr., Elementary School in southeast Washington, D.C., to speak to students about the importance of a college education. To drive her points home, she invited the students to someday visit her campus.

Taking her up on the invitation, a group of 35 fourth-graders from King Elementary is coming to Smith on Tuesday, Oct. 24, for an overnight visit. The following day, the Washington students will be joined by some 250 fourth-graders from the Smith College Campus School and Northampton public schools. Together, the students will spend time getting a glimpse of college life.

Following a campus tour the first day, the King Elementary students, who are all choir members, will participate in a rehearsal with Jonathan Hirsh, director of Smith's glee club and orchestra. In the evening, the students will have dinner with undergraduates in a Smith house.

At breakfast on Wednesday, Oct. 25, Simmons will officially welcome the Washington contingent, after which they will join the local students for sessions designed to excite them about various fields in the arts and sciences. These include optics and light demonstrations; hands-on explorations of the solar system; computer and math applications; "brain stuff" with neuroscience faculty and students; Caribbean dancing and drumming; and storytelling.

"Our goal is to open the children's eyes to all the things you can do in college," says event organizer Brenda Allen, director of institutional diversity.
"We want to make the day fun and memorable," she adds. "Along the way, we hope to spark their interest in math, science, and the humanities."

The students' visit marks Smith's response to Secretary of Education Richard Riley's call for colleges to reach out to primary and secondary students during National College Week.

Acting as chaperones for the King Elementary students will be alumnae from the D.C. Smith Club. The D.C. club, whose members for more than a decade have been volunteering in Washington's elementary schools, has "adopted" Martin Luther King, Jr., Elementary as a central volunteer project. The club provides tutoring, a reading-aloud program, enrichment trips and fundraising for computer and audiovisual equipment at the school, which enrolls 485 pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students in the city's Anacostia section.

Contact: Laurie Fenlason, lfenlaso@smith.edu, (413) 585-2190

October 19, 2000