Eating snowcones in Antarctica, making maracas in South America, practicing African tribal face painting, fishing in the Nile river and building boomerangs in Australia were some of the booth themes at this year’s fourth annual K-grams Kids-Fair, titled “Smilin’ Around the World.”
More than 1,000 students from nine local elementary schools and 1,850 college students participated in the event held Friday at Crisler Arena.
“This year, we decided to integrate an international theme, threading it throughout the entire event,” Ani Shehigian, executive director of the Smile Programming Council, said. SPC is the organization that runs K-grams.
“Because the focus of Kids-Fair is to provide educational and interactive activities for people of all ages to enjoy, the international theme added a unique flair to Kids-Fair this year,” she said.
K-grams, short for “Kids Programs” promotes interaction between college and elementary students. The K-grams Pen Pal Program pairs students living in the residence halls with elementary school kids who write to each other throughout the school year.
“This is kind of the culminating event,” Business junior Leon Salkin said. “The pen pals get to meet with their college pen pals.”
LSA junior and Kids-Fair Director Channelle Kizy said this year’s kids fair involved more than 120 student groups.
“Our turnout has been incredible this year. We had over 800 buddies, which is a larger number than we’ve ever had before,” she said.
At the Kids-Fair, pen pal pairs participate in booth activities by University student organizations, ranging from fraternities and sororities to multicultural organizations and athletic teams.
LSA senior and SPC member Erin Krumrei noted that sometimes college buddies can not make it to the fair, which is why every kid receives a picture of their buddy at the end of the day.
“We did have extra buddies,” she said. “The kids did get to meet college students throughout the day even if it wasn’t their pen pal.”
According to Shehigian, a major part of the Kids-Fair is to provide elementary students with an opportunity to visit the University, interact with college students and experience college life, in addition to its educational component.
Karl Szynwelski, a fifth grader at Carpenter Elementary School, has been to three fairs and agreed that this year’s fair was a success. “It was the best one I went to so far,” Szynwelski said.
Szynwelski’s fifth grade teacher, Pete Larson, said he has involved his students in K-grams for the past four years.
“It helps kids a lot with letter writing,” he said. “It also helps them get to know what sort of things happen in college.
Planning for this year’s Kids-Fair started in June and involved the 60 plus members of the SPC.
“We do all of this for the kids – that’s what it’s all about,” Shehigian said. “The smiling faces, the excitement, the learning taking place right before our eyes, the interaction between elementary and college students, faculty/staff, parents, and teachers; we can honestly say that Kids-Fair has exemplified the purpose of K-grams.”