Manhattan elementary students get a taste of college life

Elementary school students from New York left the Big Apple this weekend to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Atkins Living Learning Center and to get a taste of college life.

Nancy Lorenz, assistant director for development for Residential Programs and Services, said the Atkins LLC has been sending students to the Bloomingdale School in Manhattan for eight years.

“This is the first time the students have been able to come here,” Lorenz said.

Lorenz said that every year when IU students visit Bloomingdale School, the fourth- and fifth-grade students always ask when they can come visit IU. Rachael Crouch, director of alumni programs for the IU Alumni Association, said it was a campus wide effort to bring all 37 students to IU.

Lorenz said the main goal of bringing the students to IU was to show them what college was like and that it was possible for them to go.

She said many of the students have never even been out of Manhattan before. Bringing them here not only shows them things they have never seen, but what college can be like, she said.

When the Atkins students traveled to New York, they were mentors to the kids, she said. The kids seem to come alive when they work with the Atkins LLC students, Lorenz said.

Freshman and Atkins LLC resident Victoria Wilcox said it was a great experience being able to work with the students at Bloomingdale.

Being able to help show the students what college life is like and to show them they could be here someday is an amazing opportunity.

“It was great to see their faces light up when they got here,” she said.

Lorenz said many people told her bringing the students to IU could never happen.

She said it took a year to work out, but thanks to the efforts of many groups around campus and the community it was possible.

Lorenz’s sister, Barbara McKay White, who teaches at Bloomingdale School, helped develop the trip to IU and the past seven trips that took IU students to Manhattan.

Gisela Justicia, music teacher at Bloomingdale School, said it means a lot that they were able to bring their students to IU.

She said the fact that the students can come here and see the Atkins students they have been bonding with and see what college can be like is something they will never forget.

Bloomingdale fifth-grader Jamesey Exime said his favorite part of the trip was being able to go to the football game, but he said seeing Indiana and spending time with the students was fun, too.

While at IU Bloomingdale, students were treated to a number of events, Lorenz said.
They were taken to the puzzle room at the Lilly Library and the Hoosier Village, then to the football game Saturday.

She said the students were given a tour of the stadium and were let onto the field. They got to meet the players and receive autographed pictures from the team.

“Everything they have gotten to do is totally new to them,” Lorenz said.

Their trip also led them off campus when they went to a buffalo farm, although they ran into problems when their bus became stuck in a field, she said.

Their off campus journey ended with a traditional Midwest weenie roast, Lorenz said, which was held at her house.

She said she then took the students to her brother’s, where they were able to feed horses for the first time.

The weekend ended with the students attending the 15th anniversary celebration Sunday.

“There is something very powerful about bringing these students here,” Lorenz said.