In 1994, the first Horizons for Youth summer campers arrived at Northampton Community College on Green Pond Road in Bethlehem Township. The brainchild of Gail Mrowinski, then a part-time NCC employee who would serve as associate dean of Community Education from 2005 through early 2024, Horizons is celebrating its 30th season providing enrichment and summer fun for children entering kindergarten through ninth grade.

Audree Chase, current associate dean of Community Education, talks about Mrowinski’s vision.

“There was a need for that particular age demographic to have an opportunity to have their first experience on a college campus,” she said and notes that spending time on a college campus is still a unique opportunity for most of today’s Horizon students.

The program has staying power, in the community and in families.

“We’ve had several families who are now parents, who grew up going to the program,” she explains, “and are now sending their children to the program, and are supporting it in other ways.”

From 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday, from June 10 through Aug. 15, Horizons participants take enrichment classes in a wide variety of areas, from acting to archery to robotics. Most classes in the Bethlehem program are offered at the main NCC campus, with a few courses that use special equipment, such as cooking classes, being taught at the Fowler Community Center on the South Side of Bethlehem. Professional instructors, including local teachers and Black Rocket technology teachers, lead classes, with high school students volunteering their assistance. (The Pocono campus of NCC offers its own slate of programs, under the leadership of Dee Raneri and Amanda Clarke.)

In order to make the program accessible to children whose parents work full-time, NCC offers wraparound services that include typical camp-type activities beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m., five days a week. Camp counselors, most of whom are college students pursuing degrees in education, staff this part of the program.

Horizons leader Carrie Hirschman remarks on the close connection between the college and the families who participate in the program.

“[At the Horizons open house] I heard parents saying, ‘Oh, I took my psych classes here,’ and showing the rooms to their kids.” She says that some children who enter the program before kindergarten come back as volunteers during high school, and then enroll at NCC.

For the children involved, the program offers something special.

“A mom told me that her daughter has been telling everyone in her kindergarten class that she’s going to college for the summer,” Hirschman says. “We hear that a lot.”

Each class can accommodate 14 students, and by the first week of June, some classes were fully subscribed, with most others at 10 or more students. Chase encourages families who see their preferred class sold out to contact the Horizons program at youthinfo@northampton.edu or 610-861-4120.

“Our folks can help guide parents to another class that’s similar [to their sold-out first choice],” Chase explains. “There are so many classes to choose from, and we know where there might be openings that weren’t immediately obvious.”

Additional information is available online: northampton.edu/education-and-training/community-education/horizons-for-youth/bethlehem-summer-programs.html