Dreams Will Come True, Students Can Now Earn a J.D. Degree at

featureThe alumni association raises its Cooley for Kids funds by selling holidaywreaths each Michaelmas term.Cooley Treats Local Kidsby Amanda YorkCooley StudentThomas M. Cooley Law School treatedabout 500 area children to lunch and aminor league baseball game as part of thisyear’s Cooley for Kids event. Each year thelaw school sponsors Cooley for Kids, wherethe school provides money to send childrenaffiliated with Lansing Parks and Recreationto a Lansing Lugnuts game at OldsmobilePark. The children watch a minor leaguebaseball game, eat lunch, and participate ina parade around the baseball field.This year’s event took place Aug. 2.Attendance was down slightly because of thesoaring temperatures that gripped parts ofthe Midwest this summer. “It was during themiddle of a heat wave here,” said BrettKaschinske, manager of leisure services forLansing Parks and Recreation. “That heldback a few people.” Children who participatedranged from five to 12 years old and wereenrolled in the summer playground programthrough Lansing Parks and Recreation. Theprogram provides activities and field trips forchildren during the summer months.Kaschinske said Cooley for Kids counts as afield trip for the children and a way for themto explore their hometown. “Sometimes youneed to be a tourist in your own town,”Kaschinske said. “You go all over to vacationand do fun stuff and a lot of times there isgreat stuff in their backyard that they needto be exposed to and for one reason oranother may not have been able to get therewith their family.”Terry Carella, director of communicationsat Cooley, said the school had sponsoredthe event for at least six years. “We did itbecause we wanted to do something for thecommunity and for kids,” Carella said. Themoney comes from the Student BarAssociation, the Alumni Association, andfrom faculty and staff at the law school.This year the SBA chipped in $1,000, theCooley Alumni Association contributed$1,612.50, and faculty and staff providedanother $1,676. The alumni associationraises its Cooley for Kids funds by sellingholiday wreaths each Michaelmas term, saidDarryl Parsell, Cooley’s Director of AlumniRelations. “The alumni want students toknow that alumni donations are supportingstudent activities that are important to ourcommunity,” Parsell said.SBA Vice President Caycie Dix helped organizethe event. Dix said the children weren’tthe only ones who enjoyed the day. “I reallyenjoyed it,” Dix said. “I always love workingwith kids, and it was good to hang out withthe kids and take a study break.”10 BENCHMARK TRINITY 2006