Towards a Safe Downtown

Being a public, urban, research university, we believe in our locational endowment – pride of place and pride in our mission to serve our community, city, state, and region are integral to our culture and way of life at IU Indianapolis. What then is our role as an institution of higher education in ensuring a safe downtown?

We believe that the best way higher education supports this cause is via education.  This summer, IU Indy hosted Kids College, a summer camp for 8th graders. Our 43 participants came from nine school districts (Avon, Brownsburg, Franklin, IPS, Lawrence, Mt. Vernon, Pike, Washington, and Wayne), three charter schools (Indiana Math and Science Academy, Irvington Community Middle School, and Paramount Englewood) and four private schools (Heritage Christian, Mooresville Christian, Orchard, and Trinity Lutheran).

The campers learned about college and career opportunities in nursing, medicine, education, business, law, and more.  Importantly, their day and their energies were focused on learning, exploring, and understanding what education can do for them. The curriculum we offered, combined with the campers' experiences and feedback, demonstrated that learning can be both engaging and rewarding. Keeping students focused on learning during the summer is one way to ensure that their energies are focused on the right pursuits.  We plan to scale our camp offerings in the coming years and offer a bigger variety, especially with the completion of the James T. Morris Arena (JIM).

Engaged learning is the best way universities like ours can help keep our youth engaged – and it is a darned good way to develop the citizens and leaders of tomorrow. Explore the full story of this year’s Kids College camp and its impact.

Go Jags!

Latha Ramchand
Chancellor