Area Partnerships Strengthen Knox’s College 4 Kids

The old saying goes, 'it takes a village' to support children's growth and learning. This summer, Knox College lived that motto by hosting its annual College 4 Kids program, made possible by community members, sponsors, and gifts. Community support throughout Knox College and Galesburg enabled children to have a meaningful experience. Being in partnership with the community through education is a big part of College 4 Kids and is the mission of Knox and its partners.

One of the program's leading partners is Galesburg School District 205. The district provided scholarships for interested students in the district. This year, 228 students took advantage of the scholarships and participated in the program. On August 15, District 205 presented a check to College 4 Kids of $45,600, covering the scholarship for the 228 students.

“The magic of this program is, when our students are not with us, we can give them engaging, experiential opportunities where they can learn and grow. College 4 Kids does that for our students,” said Galesburg District 205 Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources and Student Supports Mindi Ritchie ’99. “We wanted to expand out and look at ways of offering enrichment within the community, and with our tie-in with Knox College, we knew we were getting a robust and strong program.”

College 4 Kids extending that community-college partnership and investing in education for area youth is part of the long history of Galesburg and Knox. 

“I think Knox College 4 Kids is a prime example of how Galesburg is coming together to support each other in different facets,” said Angel Peterson, District 205 parent, teacher at King Elementary School, and instructor at College 4 Kids. “The community partners are so important financially, but you also have those who teach classes. When people feel connected to the community, they invest and they stay.”

On Monday, August 4, another partner stepped up as Ameren presented a $5000 check to the program. Youth participants of the program gave Ameren’s Community Relations Coordinator for the North Region Ruthie Bertram examples of the classes they took, the subjects they learned, and the fun they had, giving her a guided tour of different posters from the two-week program.

“We love to give back to our service territory, making sure we’re contributing to communities to help them thrive and grow, and we want to start with the little ones so they can continue to be successful,” Bertram said. “This is tremendous because we also love to give back to STEM, and I saw a lot of STEM posters, which are super important to us and the things we stand for.”

The community partnership is important for covering the different costs of the massive two-week program. The Galesburg School District and the Ameren gifts and grants, and other community gifts help families who need financial support participate. Another generous gift, totaling close to $5,000, included program t-shirts, which were donated by Wil Azer across three of his businesses: Azer Clinic, 156 East, and Go Van Gogh’s. 

For more information and dates for next year's program, please follow Knox College's College 4 Kids Facebook page or visit here.