FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 10, 2001 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 CHILDREN EXPLORE CAREERS AT DRAKE DURING DREAMER COLLEGE CAMP Approximately 25 fifth and sixth graders from the Oakridge Neighborhood are spending the last two weeks of their summer vacation at Drake University, learning about various careers and refreshing their reading and math skills for the start of school. The students are divided into groups that are exploring one of five career areas: community service, education, law, restaurants and retailing. Each group is conducting research and taking a field trip. At the end of the two-week camp, every group will present a computerized report about its career field that includes photographs, music and possibly even animation. The students are learning the computer skills they need to produce these reports at Drake's School of Education, 3206 University Ave. Wanda Everage, associate provost for academic services at Drake, will be addressing the community service group at 10 a.m. today (Friday, Aug. 10), at the School of Education. The law group has toured the Drake Legal Clinic while the retail group will be visiting the University Book Store next week. The restaurant group will be touring the Varsity Café and Coffeehouse near the Drake campus at 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 13. The students are part of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation program founded in 1997 and sponsored by Drake alumni Joan Behrendt Middleton and Lyle Middleton and Des Moines business executive Richard Jacobson and his wife, Toni. The program provides ongoing academic support and cultural and recreational activities to all of the children who were in first and second grades and lived in the Oakridge Neighborhood in 1997. After high school graduation, the program helps pay tuition for college or vocational school. Drake is supporting the program by providing office space in Morehouse Residence Hall for James Work, executive director of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation. In addition, Drake faculty and graduate students in the School of Education are helping with the College Dreamer Camp, which started Aug. 6 and will continue through Friday, Aug. 17. "The College Dreamer Camp gives future teachers an opportunity to work with tougher, at-risk kids who aren't very interested in learning," Work said. "It's a learning experience for both the educators and the kids."