WAIMEA — A special three-week summer program will be offered at Waimea Elementary and Middle Schools beginning June 26. It is made possible through a federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant awarded in 2014.
All Waimea students going into grades one through eight in the fall, including home-schoolers, are welcome and can select four classes from an array of enrichment offerings geared towards providing opportunities to hone skills while engaging in hands-on learning projects.
“We’re not going to drill and kill. We’re going to expose kids to meaningful things that they can use their science, math or reading skills with,” said program administrator Angela Thomas. “If they have a problem reading, we help them find their passion, what they want to read about. Then they’re more willing to look up things about it.”
Participants will be provided breakfast, lunch and snacks, and the cost for the three weeks is just $60. Students on free or reduced lunch will be able to attend free of charge.
Some of the classes offered are dance, including hula; Taiko drumming; sewing; strength and conditioning; innovative physical activity and origami.
“One of our more special programs is sewing, taught by Iris Thompson. It’s a big hit. We decided to buy sewing machines and have offered it for three quarters. The class has both boys and girls. The boys are amazing,” said Thomas.
Hilda Gonzales will teach a Spanish culture class with language, crafts and cookery. There will also be a creative writing/thinking class for fourth and fifth graders, where students can explore different ways to express themselves, taught by Lorraine Urbic.
Tara Sakamoto will lead a garden and culinary arts class. And there will also be a music class with Jordon Lopez, who will bring a large variety of instruments to be explored, in addition to songwriting.
Thomas conceived of and administers Baby STEPS — a program that provides a variety of services for preschoolers and their families — years ago, and wrote the grant proposal with preschool services in mind.
“We had a P-3 (preschool through third grade) grant and it expired. We wanted to continue some of the things that we were doing, like the pre-kindergarten transition and the Baby STEPS to literacy book bags, so I applied for the after-school program knowing that 21st Century is all about out of school programs. Before school, after school, summer school, preschool are all considered out of school,” said Thomas.
“We’re the only 21st Century grant that supports preschool education, and this summer we’re going to run a transition kindergarten program for kids that haven’t had preschool. We also do play groups two days a week on campus,” she added.
The $1 million five-year grant has provided funding for a plethora of pre-K through grade 12 programs and services for the entire DOE Honokaa Complex.
“The grant is for the two Waimea schools, Honokaa High and Middle schools and Paauilo School,” Thomas said.
To write the proposal, she met with all the principals, creating a grant that is tailor-made to the communities it serves.
“I met will each of them individually and they had input into the program,” Thomas said.
The after-school classes, which run throughout the school year, are hands-on project based. They serve to enhance learning and make it possible for students to engage in enrichment experiences otherwise unavailable to them throughout the school year.
“Many parents can’t get away from work to transport their child to after-school programs, so we have a 60-passenger bus that allows anybody who needs to stay after school to be transported back to Waimea,” said Thomas.
Not only do the programs provide enrichment, but they work in concert with regular school day curriculum.
“All the efforts we’re doing are aligned with STEM. In preschool we’re implementing pre-science skills and we have an astronomy class taught at Honokaa High School. They’ve gone to Keck, both the top of the mountain and the observatory, and there was a NASA scientist speaking at Imiloa that they were able to hear in Hilo,” she said.
To evaluate the impact of the programs, surveys are distributed to the teachers of any student who has been in the program for 30 days.
“We asked them about attendance, behavior and academic performance. One thing that stands out is attendance. Students are willing to come to class on a holiday so they can finish their project. Especially with sewing,” said Thomas.
Info or to enroll: Contact Gina Tumasone at 756-3316 or gtumasone@gmail.com