By Kathy Gallant

Summer program keeping local kids busy

Jul 11, 2017 | 4:39 PM

A program to help kids have an active summer in Meadow Lake has been revived, and its first year back in action is a busy one so far.

The Summer Program, which was once offered by the Northwest School Division was revived earlier this year by Positively Parenting, thanks to a donation from Tolko Industries.

Word of the three-week drop-in program’s return spread quickly, and approximately 300 youth from Grades 1 to 6 are enrolled, with daily numbers fluctuating near capacity from roughly 30 to 40 kids. 

Briana Linton is the program coordinator summer student and is in charge of arranging all the details of the camp, from logistics to programming and working with various community groups.

“There has been a lot of planning and preparing,” she said. “Making up the theme days, and the like. I actually attended the summer program when I was a kid, and I remember a lot of the events, like Christmas in July and Halloween Days. That really helped me.”

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Linton graduated from Carpenter High School in 2016 and is going into her second year at the University of Saskatchewan. She was ecstatic to hear she got the position so she could work in her hometown for the summer, she said.

“I really love working with kids,” she said. “I’ve taught swimming lessons at the pool, so [I] have that background. The summer program has been really entertaining and I’m really happy I got the position.”

She said a great deal of work occurs on a daily basis to keep the program running efficiently. Support comes from the staff at Positively Parenting, another student leader, as well as a group of dedicated volunteers.

“Alexa McKee is the senior leader, and works alongside me,” she said. “She started the first day of the program. She hopped on board to help me get everything ready. Other than that it’s all volunteers that help us, about 10 per day. They help at different stations, with crafts, games in the gym, help things move smoothly, and keep all the kids organized.”

She said the kids attending the daily activities are having a fun and positive experience.

“We’re getting lots of good comments from the kids,” Linton said. “They’re saying they want to come back and [have] given us suggestions and stuff. They’re super excited about theme days – asking things like ‘are we really doing that?’ Swimming day on Friday is really popular. And our movie day was busy.”

Theme days have included pyjama day, earth day, and future themes will feature superheroes and carnivals. The program is running at Gateway School this week, Lakeview School next, and the final week will be at Jubilee. The summer will cap off with a field trip to Greig Lake.

“It’s been a fun and entertaining summer,” Linton said. “The days go by fast.”

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath