INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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KIDS AT INNER-CITY CAMP GET TASTE OF COMPUTERS, COLLEGE LIFE AT IUPUI UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

INDIANAPOLIS - Many teen-agers wouldn't relish the idea of spending six hours a week during the summer in a library computer lab, but 15-year-old Adrian Thomas does. He hopes to someday be a computer teacher, but right now just enjoys surfing the Internet and learning to use different programs. Since he doesn't have a computer at home, this is one of the only opportunities during the summer that he will get to use one.

Adrian is participating in a low-cost summer day camp organized by inner-city Messiah Baptist Church, six hours of which are spent every week at a computer lab in the IUPUI University Library, 755 W. Michigan St.

"A lot of kids don't have computers at home," said Messiah Minister Regan Robinson, who leads the camp. "During the summer months, it's hard, if not impossible, for them to use a computer." That's why he's incorporated computer training into the list of the camp's activities including sports, classes on leadership and social development, visiting a local nursing home and more.

"Computers are the way of the future. As much access as they can have to computers and appreciation of them would be beneficial," said Minister Robinson. He chose the IUPUI University Library because of its state-of-the-art computers.

Robinson brings the children to the computer lab two to three times a week to work on computer programs like Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Print Shop. A computer instructor directs the students on projects of their own choosing. On this particular day, one student is making a 2002 calendar to hang on her wall, another is creating a PowerPoint presentation on popular music group Destiny's Child and another is making a card to send to his out-of-town grandmother.

Robinson, who just graduated from IUPUI himself in May with a degree in sociology and philosophy, hopes the kids not only learn computer skills, but will be more prepared for and encouraged to attend college.

"With them coming to a campus, seeing how big it is and how people interact, it won't be such a shock when their feet hit the campus," he said.

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