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Grandkids, = grandparents=20 have grand time at UNT's Grandparents University
09:06 AM CDT on = Saturday, June=20 27, 2009
DENTON =E2=80=93 By the time the diplomas at Grandparents University = were handed out=20 Friday afternoon, Dale Gregoriew had experienced some of the classic = aspects of=20 college life =E2=80=93 sharing a dorm room, eating mass-produced = cafeteria food and=20 attending a lecture that required computer skills that were largely over = his=20 head.
But that wasn't the point of his two days on the University of North = Texas=20 campus =E2=80=93 spending time with his grandson was. =
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"I get to see a lot of him anyway," Gregoriew, a 69-year-old retired=20 clergyman, said of Mac Stout, 9. "But this was 100 percent time. When = you can go=20 to class together and eat together and sleep together =E2=80=93 that's = something=20 special."
The program =E2=80=93 in which grandchildren between 7 and 12 and = their grandparents=20 attend classes, sleep in a dormitory and attend a "graduation" luncheon = =E2=80=93 was a=20 first for the Denton campus and a first for the state. About 85 people = signed=20 up.
But the concept is rapidly spreading throughout the nation.
Michael McPherson, an economics professor who helped found the UNT = effort=20 after witnessing a similar program at Michigan State University, said = the idea=20 is to connect the generations.
"The basic philosophy is to bring together grandparents and = grandchildren and=20 let them have fun together," he said.
There are also practical considerations.
Besides filling up classrooms for a few days in the slack season, = educators=20 say, Grandparents University brings back some people who haven't been on = campuses in years, accompanied by those too young to be thinking = seriously about=20 college at all.
The first group is of interest to the Development Office, which seeks = alumni=20 as potential donors or volunteers. The second group might one day bring = traffic=20 to the Admissions Office, where administrators are always on the outlook = for=20 future students.
Peggy Tobolowsky, dean of the UNT criminal justice department, made = the point=20 as she welcomed 18 members of the group to a class on Friday.
"We're glad you could be with us," she said, "and we hope to see some = of you=20 in criminal justice classes in a few years."
Michael Steger, one of the originators of the MSU program, said = participation=20 has grown fourfold =E2=80=93 to 800 =E2=80=93 there since 2006.
"It's only been a few years, but I know our development people are = tracking=20 it, and it's certainly a helpful tool for them to get alumni engaged = again," he=20 said.
Lynda Taylor, one of the UNT participants, found herself sleeping in = a dorm=20 room in Maple Hall for the first time since she graduated about four = decades=20 ago. As it happened, she and her granddaughter Riley Punnett, 9, were = assigned a=20 room only two doors down from her old one.
"It looks the same," she said. "These things don't change much. But = it's=20 smaller than I remember."
Her goal, though, was to introduce Riley to campus life.
"We want to get it in her head to go to college," she said.
She gave the program high marks.
"It was educational, but more important, it was fun."
Those priorities were echoed throughout the day.
The criminal justice class was the program's most popular, with = officials=20 creating a second class to meet demand.
The class was conducted like a CSI episode =E2=80=93 a bank = had been robbed,=20 and the grandparents and grandchildren were taught a little about = criminology to=20 help them solve the crime.
They dusted for fingerprints on the stick-up note and compared them = to those=20 of various "suspects." They took a mold of a footprint left in the = ground and=20 examined a hair clinging to a newspaper left at the crime scene.
In between, Sandy DeLillo, a former lab assistant, taught the class = how to=20 recognize loops, whorls and arches in fingerprints; gave a short talk = about DNA;=20 and told her students how to distinguish between the strands of hair = from a bat,=20 a cat and a cow.
She also served one other important role. When the students examined = the=20 sheet of fingerprints, they found one that matched those on the robbery = note,=20 and quickly fingered the suspect.
"Yes, they're mine," she said.
"You robbed a bank?" Darius Goad, 10, shouted out in a mixture of=20 astonishment and admiration.
His grandmother, Nancy Goad, pronounced the program a success.
"Everyone was so nice and helpful and it lets you spend full time = with your=20 grandchild. That's what makes it so special," she said.
But Darius was more explicit about why he liked it.
"The dorm room was a luxury," he said. "It had a lot of room and a = toilet=20 with a very luxurious seat, and the whole room had, like, 10 outlets."=20
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