Grandparents’ University returns for the fifth year

Generations will learn together on the UW–Madison campus during the fifth annual Grandparents’ University (GPU) on Thursday and Friday, July 21-22. This year, grandparents and their grandchildren will be able to earn degrees in one of 12 “majors.”

Visual opportunities abound at the event, with kids involved in art (painting landscapes); astronomy (building telescopes); botany (creating bottle gardens); engineering (building cars and bridges); food science (making cheese); marine science (collecting samples from Lake Mendota); physics (building a crystal radio); theatre (engaging in stage combat); and veterinary medicine (giving a horse a physical).

More than 200 grandparents with 229 grandchildren will participate this year in the program the Christian Science Monitor once called “a rousing success.” This event has even become a template for other universities around the country.

Some interesting facts about the program include that 85 percent of the grandparents and 54 percent of the grandchildren are from Wisconsin, meaning many children are coming here especially to visit grandparents and share the university. In all, 21 different states will be represented, including Texas, California and Arizona.

Grandparents tell organizers that “sharing the university with a grandchild” and “being able to show grandchildren that adults can be excited about learning at any age” are the real rewards of the program, aside from the degree.