Generations old and young will be brought together during the ninth annual summer camp for Central Michigan University alumni grandparents and their grandchildren 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.

About 272 are expected to attend the event.

“We wanted an event that would bring alumni back to campus," said Annie Sanders, associate director of alumni relations. "We figured this was a perfect opportunity for them to bring their grandchildren and show them where they went to school while participating in a fun summer camp setting."

With 45 classes to choose from, each family selects five 90-minute class sessions to participate in. Class options include Bug Eyed: Things in the Scanning Electron Microscope, Paws in Action and a Guided Tour of a Natural History of Michigan.

“We try to make the class selection as diverse as possible by getting representation from all the different college departments,” Sanders said. “We want to highlight everything CMU has to offer, going as far as even having community partners teach classes.”

To find teachers for the sessions, Sanders reaches out to staff members and departments across CMU’s campus to ask if they’re willing to teach a session on their area of expertise. Other volunteers include participants from the volunteer center and CMU Police Department.

New classes are incorporated each year to ensure the camp remains interesting for any returning grandparents and grandchildren. The first Grandparents University camp, held in 2008, featured 25 classes.

“It’s a great opportunity for grandparents to come back to campus after not being here for 30 or 40 years. Having them stay in the updated residential halls and eat in the residential restaurants is an exciting opportunity for them because campus wasn’t like this when they were here,” Sanders said.

During the camp, grandparents and grandchildren will eat and sleep in the Campbell and Kulhavi Residence Halls and eat in the Real Food on Campus restaurant.

When many of the grandparents attended CMU, Sanders said, there was only community bathrooms in the residential halls and one food option per meal. Now, many dorms offer two bathrooms per room and several food options are available per meal.

"It’s a good opportunity to get kids on campus at a young age with people they’re comfortable with because we want to instill the ideal of college at a young age. They may want to attend CMU as well,” Sanders said. “It’s both an alumni event and a recruitment tool.”

While exact statistics aren’t available yet, Sanders said many former Grandparents University participants are now registered as freshman for this fall.

Grandparents University also offers special evening events, including swimming and bowling in the Student Activity Center, and rock climbing at the indoor rock wall in Finch Field House.

Grandparents University's sessions, lodging and food is funded by the registration fees paid by the participants.

"The majority of the sessions are from faculty members donating their time. It's not an event that costs us money, but we don't really make any money either," Sanders said.

For more information about Grandparents University, go here.