Together Camp
May 17, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - The Women’s Studies Program at Western Kentucky University is seeking participants for its second annual Women and Kids Learning Together summer camp June 4-8.
The weeklong camp is open to low-income women and their children (ages 6-14). The application deadline is May 25. The camp can accommodate up to 22 women and 22 children.
“The whole idea of bringing kids and women to campus is to give them a taste of campus life and the university experience,” said Dr. Jane Olmsted, director of the Women’s Studies Program. “Our goal is to encourage them to think of education as a lifelong endeavor.”
During the camp, women and children participate in workshops and team-building activities designed to strengthen self-esteem, to help them reflect on their lives, and to explore opportunities for long-term health and education.
Dr. Olmsted said four or five of the participants in last year’s inaugural Women and Kids Learning Together camp are attending WKU and at least one participant has completed her GED and is attending the Bowling Green Technical College.
“We think of the camp as being three threads tied together,” Dr. Olmsted said. Those threads are the arts, physical and emotional wellness, and practical living.
The program is meeting the needs of low-income women and their children in Warren and surrounding counties. Kentucky ranks as the third worst state for women, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The Governor’s Task Force on the Economic Status of Kentucky’s Women (2002) found that Kentucky ranks 47th in measures of women’s economic and social autonomy, 49th in the percentage of women with four or more years of college, and 50th in health and well-being of its women.
Women and Kids Learning Together is supported by WKU and by the Housing Authority of Bowling Green. Other sponsors include Dollar General.
For information about the camp and for applications, contact Women’s Studies at (270) 745-6477 or visit http://www.wku.edu/womensstudies/wklt/wklthome.htm.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Women’s Studies at (270) 745-6477.
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