SUMMER PROGRAM GIVES STUDENTS NEW HORIZONS

Meghan Yingling, left, of Cape Girardeau and Summer Rains, 10, of Jackson, dissected a large grasshopper in the Explorations in Biology class.

Matthew Strom of Sikeston watched the reaction of four chemicals tht creted a silver solution during the mirror-in-a-bottle experiment.

Robert Coomer, 12, of Chaffee looked at a grasshopper under a microscope after he dissected it in Explorations in Biology class.

There's no doubt about why the summer Horizons program at Southeast Missouri State University is popular.

The kids do things.

"There are no lecture courses in Horizons," said Steve Chapman, director of extended learning at Southeast. "Lectures don't work."

Chapman said the courses offered in Horizons appeal to young people's desire to be involved physically.

"Kids like to stay active," Chapman said. "They like to be out in the field or making things. They don't want a continuation of school. They want to be doing something."

Horizons is a week-long enrichment program created by the faculty of Southeast and presented each summer to academically able young people between the ages of 10 and 15. Courses are offered in various fields.

A perennial favorite is the theater course, "From Props to Performance," offered by Ellen and Dennis Seyer. Participants, said Ellen Seyer, make the scenery, props and costumes while learning their lines for a performance. At the end of the week, they present the play as a finished product.

"It's amazing," she said, "that in one week they do everything."

But more academically oriented courses are also popular because the young people are able to do things in the lab. Chapman said that two sections of chemistry are offered every summer. Biology is also popular. "The courses are hands-on and thus fun," said Chapman.

Under the direction of Dr. Mike Rodgers, associate professor of chemistry, the students in chemistry class made a silver mirror Monday.

Rodgers said that the kids enjoy chemistry because they can take something home with them every day, something unusual that they've made themselves.

"There's a craftsmanship they have to exercise to get something usable and worth showing," said Rodgers. "They enjoy having something physical to show for their efforts."

Stacie Greer, a Marble Hill seventh-grader, said she enjoyed the hands-on aspect of the chemistry class.

"This is a really good learning experience to figure out things we don't know about," she said. "We get to do stuff -- like changing liquids to different colors to see if the liquids are acid, base or neutral."

Ritter said a pinhole camera, utilizing a round oatmeal container and a piece of photo paper, would be constructed and used by the students to create a photograph.

"It shows how a process works," he said. "When you just have a machine, such as a camera, do the work, no one understands. Our experiments demonstrate how things work."

Other offerings in the Horizons program include courses in mathematics, computers, paleontology, archaeology and rock climbing.

Chapman said the Horizons program has two purposes. One, he said, is to give the Southeast faculty a chance to develop course ideas. The other purpose is to provide gifted kids with exposure to college life. "The program gets them exposed to campus so it won't be strange to them," Chapman said.

Also, Chapman said, the program serves a larger purpose in that it helps integrate the campus with the community.

"Horizons is a time for us to show off our faculty for a small but significant portion of the community," he said. "Higher education institutions tend to sit outside the community. One of the best ways to combat this isolation is education programs for the community, such as Horizons.

"As an institution interacts more with the community it serves, the institution becomes more a part of the community."

For more information on next summer's Horizons program, call Chapman at 651-2189.