Reflections on last summer's Village Program
“Definitely the volunteers. My favorite volunteers were Denise and Mr. Weezil. Denise could talk like an English lady and it was so much fun to try to do it like her. Mr. Weezil taught us to make beautiful jewelry. I made a bracelet for my mom and lots of rings and things.” —Atziry
“Kay Kay (Olson) helped us make up a play. I was a soldier and a cowboy. It was fun. My favorite thing was when we got to have ice cream sundaes with whatever we wanted on them.” —Diego
“Everything was better this year! We got to bake banana bread, and a lady came to teach us about bugs and worms, and we played sports, and we made things and we learned about taking care of the forest, especially when it’s really dry, and many more things.” —Jezebel
“This year we had lots more things to do. The bus took us swimming to Brush Lake, and to the Wildlife Refuge, and to some waterfalls where we got to climb and hike. Gaby (Solum) was the best. She planned our field trips and she brought her own kids and they were so cute. She made us do a lot of hiking, but it was really fun.” —Luis
“It was great... cien por ciento... we saw some awesome movies and then talked about them. Some were in English and some were in Spanish, but the best part was how we looked at the different ways people from different cultures see the same experience. Then, we tried to figure out why that happens.” —Maybeline
What a great time, with the snow all around and hot chocolate on the menu, to be remembering the warm and sunny days of summer. The volunteers at the Village Project are doing just that as they prepare for yet another summer of fun for Boundary County’s young English Language Learners.
The annual evaluation and planning meeting for The Village Project will take place on Thursday, Jan. 19 at the University of Idaho Extension office community space. The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Any and all interested citizens are invited to join us. So, if you think this volunteer activity might be for you, or are just curious, keep reading!
The Village Project operates every summer as an entirely volunteer force without a budget. What we have is good will, imagination, and a love for children. With these resources, we provide fun activities to kids who otherwise would not have access to the resources our community provides in town. We operate under the auspices of Boundary County 4H.
Last summer the Village Project had the very good fortune to join forces with the Boundary County School District. Mt. Hall Principal and Migrant Program Director, Lisa Iverson was able to integrate the Village Project with the English Language Summer School. The transportation, space, and material resources provided to us were outstanding, and the volunteers were able to become even more creative with their activities for the kids.
The Village Project invites the community on Jan. 19, to join last year’s volunteers and find out about this project and how you might be able to support it.
For more information, call Barbara Castellan at 312-720-6943, or Amy Robertson at 208-267-3235.
Here’s the “man on the street” assessment from the kids at the end of summer, 2016:
Question: What did you like the most about this year’s Village Project?