2012.06.15 > For Immediate Release
contact: Tim Kaldahl - University Relations
phone: 402.554.3502 - email: tkaldahl@unomaha.edu

UNO College of Education to Host Lewis and Clark Students

Omaha - Students from Omaha's Lewis and Clark Middle School will spend four days at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) for a portion of the district's summer school program.

The students will participate in a variety of activities at UNO Tuesday, June 19, through Friday, June 22, from about 8:30 a.m. to noon each day. Each day’s events are organized by the College of Education. More than 50 UNO faculty, staff and students will interact with the approximately 85 Lewis and Clark students and teachers.

The Lewis and Clark students will participate in a variety of activities designed to increase awareness of post-secondary education, become familiar with the UNO community and better understand how educational choices today offer preparations for the future. Highlights of the four-day program will include:

• Rock wall climbing in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 19;

• A library scavenger hunt in the UNO Criss Library at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20; and

• A variety of writing activities in Roskens Hall at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 21.

The event will culminate with a commencement ceremony at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, June 22, at the UNO Thompson Alumni Center. Another component of the four-day project is the involvement with UNO students. Those students are part of TAP (the Teacher Academy Project) at UNO. TAP students are enrolled in UNO’s accelerated teacher preparation program. The students hold degrees in other areas and have worked outside of education, but have decided to pursue teaching careers.

“Our TAP students will be learning about middle school students – a completely new ‘environment’ for them – while the Lewis and Clark students will learn more about college, a completely new ‘environment’ for them, as well,” said Connie Schaffer, UNO College of Education faculty member.

For more information, contact Schaffer at cschaffer@unomaha.edu or 402.554.3096.

* *

Follow UNO's Twitter updates at www.twitter.com/unomaha. Become a fan of UNO on Facebook: www.facebook.com/unomaha. Watch UNO on YouTube: www.youtube.com/UNOmavTV.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraska’s metropolitan university. The core values of the institution place students at the center of all that the university does; call for the campus to strive for academic excellence; and promote community engagement that transforms and improves urban, regional, national and global life. UNO, inaugurated in 1968, emerged from the Municipal University of Omaha, established in 1931, which grew out of the University of Omaha founded in 1908.