Grandparents University helps strengthen bonds between families, recruits future Chippewas
When Lynn Massey graduated from Central Michigan University in 1978, the residence hall rooms were so small, she couldn’t fit a desk in her bedroom. More than 30 years later, she was sleeping in a residence hall once again — this time she was enjoying it.
Massey and her grandson Ayden, 12, attended Grandparents University on June 22-24.
Grandparents University is a hands-on camp conducted by CMU faculty members that incorporates both fun and educational activities for grandparents who attended CMU and their grandchildren between the ages of 8 and 12.
“The dorms used to be awful. The kids have it so good these days, there’s even room for refrigerators,” Massey said. “CMU has grown so much. I’ve always thought it was a gorgeous campus, but a lot of this didn’t exist when I was here.”
During the camp, grandparents and grandchildren slept in the Campbell and Kulhavi Residence Halls and ate in the Real Food on Campus restaurant.
About 272 attended the event.
“My favorite part is (either) the classes or lunchtime,” Ayden Massey said. “This actually made me more excited for college — maybe even CMU. I like how the classrooms are set up, especially the chemistry lab.”
With 45 classes to choose from, each family selected five 90-minute class sessions to participate in. Class options included Art Class with Art Reach of Mid-Michigan, Mini Medical School and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
One class, “Musical Theater and You,” had two CMU theater students teaching a dance number to Disney’s The Lion King’s “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” to a class of about 30 participants.
“I enjoyed it because they did Lion King, and I was in Lion King before, so I knew all the words,” Saginaw resident Charlotte Harges, 11, said. “Every year there’s different classes. One year we had a class that we could make our own music on computers.”
Grandparents University also offered special evening events, including swimming and bowling in the Student Activity Center, and rock climbing at the indoor rock wall in Finch Field House.
