U-Rah-Rah Grandparents

Badger students from the past and future came to campus for UW-Madison's Grandparents University in July. The event, sponsored by WAA and the UW Extension Family Living Programs, brought grandparents and grandchildren together to learn, share, and make a little history.

The first-ever Grandparents University hit maximum enrollment, as 160 grandparent-grandchild pairs registered for the event. "We were very happy with the turnout," says WAA President and CEO Paula Bonner MS'78. "We wanted GPU to be a chance for alumni to connect with their grandkids, and the enthusiasm throughout the event was infectious."

Participants spent two days on UW-Madison's campus, staying in a dorm and earning "degrees" in one of four majors: history, ecology, science, or communication. But the centerpiece of the event was its oral history project, in which each grandparent-grandchild pair worked together to record details of the grandparents' lives.

"The oral history thing was a nice added feature," says Frances Suitor, who came with her grandchild Kirsten Scheller Suitor. "I'm now teaching my granddaughter, who has been raised on seedless melons, how to spit watermelon seeds long distances."

Peter Wallace, age nine, says that for any child, Grandparents University "is a blast. My favorite thing was going to the Badgers' locker room." Other grandchildren found different reasons to enjoy the weekend, as their comments on the post-event evaluation forms show:
"I liked the food and the room we stayed in," wrote one grandchild.

"We liked the sword fights" and learning "how they fight on TV," said another, referring to a stunt-technique class led by theater Professor Paul Dennhardt.

For some children, the nature classes were the highlight. "We learned that if you have lotion or bug spray on and pick up a frog, it will die," one child responded. Others liked learning "about DNA and how it is used to solve crimes."

But what grandchildren and grandparents enjoyed most was spending time together. Peter's grandmother, Judy Wallace '50, says, "It was a
thrill to introduce our two youngest grandchildren to our alma mater and watch them blossom as the four of us attended our history sessions together."

WAA is currently working with the UW Extension to plan a Grandparents University for summer 2002. For information, call WAA's Sarah Schutt toll-free at (888) 947-2586 (WIS-ALUM) or e-mail her at SarahSchutt@uwalumni.com.

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