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Flying Dust summer program busy in its second year

Aug 1, 2018 | 4:15 PM

Entertaining and educational theme days, lake trips and much more is in store for youths on Flying Dust First Nation this summer, thanks to a specialized program for the community.

Youths from ages six to 14 can enjoy games, colouring, crafts, sports, nature, culture and social time with peers, led and programmed by older youths from the community, under the support of chief and council.

Maycie Bear, the lead organizer for the program said it’s only getting better in its second year. She said upwards of 60 kids signed up for the month-long day camp style event. She is also working alongside 10 other group leaders.

“We try to do a lot of different things for the kids,” Bear said. “We ask them for their input to see what their interests are and what would be fun for them.

Some new features this year also include a bit more educational programming, including literacy and math. Bear said the group is arranging to have community elders come speak to the youths about the importance of respecting the environment and the earth. She said she thinks it will bring the children closer to their community.

“It’s important to bring them together,” she said. “It gets them to make more friends, get more involved. The community bonding is good, too. Also having different ages and genders of leaders helps with creating bonds.”

Luke Desjarlais said the program helped him intereact more with family, friends, and even met new people, and said he enjoys the activities.

“Watching movies, going swimming, playing games, the crafts, building puzzles, it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Mariah Derocher said this was her first time coming to the program.

“I came here because I thought it would be nice to meet some new people and bond with them,” she said. “There’s some fun activities, and you get to learn and always hang out with each other.”

 

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @ReporterKath