MERIDIAN - At long last school is out and the long, warm, lazy days of summer have set in for children all over.
For many children in the Cato-Meridian area this means days spent at MIC (Meridian Ira Cato), a day camp of sorts that gives the kids a fun time to engage in arts and crafts, sports and swimming.
The program was begun more than 15 years ago by Jim Donahoe, a long-time teacher and coach in the Cato-Meridian school district, who recently retired and asked Dennis St. Amour, who has taught in the district for more than 10 years to take his place at MIC.
St. Amour, who has worked at camps in the Manlius-Pebble Hill area as well as coaching soccer, boys varsity track and starting up the Otters swim team at Cato-Meridian, seemed like the perfect choice.
“It is really his baby,” St. Amour said. “I think he felt that I was in the community enough and that I had done enough to be able to take over for him. He had the program so well set up that it has been really easy to take over.”
St. Amour said first and foremost the goal of the program is to try to silence that familiar complaint of many youngsters that there simply is nothing to do.
“We wanted to be able to give kids something to do for free,” St. Amour said. “Really, that is our biggest goal with this. We wanted kids to have something to do during the summertime, something where they could learn a little and have some fun and not just sit in front of the TV or playing Playstation, but actually get out and have something to do.”
And many of the participants agree and have come back year after year.
“Most of us have all been here before,” said Brittany Lloyd, 11. “If you come here you don't just sit around doing nothing. You come here and see all your friends and there is always a lot to do and that makes it a lot of fun.”
This year St. Amour has seen the numbers for the camp increase significantly.
“We are averaging about 70 kids a day,” St. Amour said. “Last year they were averaging 40 to 50 a day, so we have had a lot more kids get involved this year, which is great to see. That was one of the things I did was go into the classrooms here at school and tell the kids about it. We have flyers all over the place and we really made a big effort to get a lot of kids involved this summer.”
Designed for children from kindergarten up, the camp offers a variety of activities throughout the day, such as pottery classes and arts and crafts.
“I think there is something for everyone,” St. Amour said. “I think it is really well set up and things run pretty well. The arts and crafts and pottery the kids really seem to like and at the end of the day they are always leaving with something they've made, which is great.”
This is definitely one of the favorite activities among the children.
“Arts and crafts is definitely my favorite,” said Julia Cardinale, 11. “You get to make a lot of different things, like boondoggle and learn a lot of different crafts.”
But there is also an emphasis placed on physical activities as well.
Children have the chance for open gym time to play games like dodgeball and basketball.
Through the course of the four-week camp, a number of specialized sport camps will also be offered focusing on sports like soccer, basketball, softball and tennis with the school's varsity coaches heading up these clinics.
“We try to focus on the fundamentals,” said St. Amour, who also coaches varsity soccer. “We want the kids to be able to get the skills they are going to need like passing and dribbling and things like that and we also want them to see if they like the game and have fun playing with their friends and see if they like it and if they might want to go on to play more and we can point them in the right direction.”
But on a long hot summer days there is nothing like a refreshing dip in the pool.
Throughout the day the kids are given the opportunity to dive in and cool off.
“The kids all love that,” St. Amour said. “We have the younger kids in there in the morning and the older kids in the afternoon and they can't wait to get in there.”
While arts and crafts and games are fun, this is the time that many kids said that they most anxiously look forward to.
“You get to swim around and have free time with your friends,” Evelyn Marks, 13, said. “And you get to cool off. That's definitely my favorite part.”
St. Amour said that he has been pleased to see the response from the kids this summer and hopes that more will stop by and check out the camp.
“I've talked to the kids and parents,” St. Amour said. “And everyone has been pleased. The kids are really happy and it gives parents a little bit of a break and things have been going really smoothly. It is free and I hope that more kids will take the time to walk out or ride their bikes or stop by and check out what we are doing here.”
For more information on the camp contact the Cato-Meridian Recreation Center at 6266735
The program was begun more than 15 years ago by Jim Donahoe, a long-time teacher and coach in the Cato-Meridian school district, who recently retired and asked Dennis St. Amour, who has taught in the district for more than 10 years to take his place at MIC.
St. Amour, who has worked at camps in the Manlius-Pebble Hill area as well as coaching soccer, boys varsity track and starting up the Otters swim team at Cato-Meridian, seemed like the perfect choice.
“It is really his baby,” St. Amour said. “I think he felt that I was in the community enough and that I had done enough to be able to take over for him. He had the program so well set up that it has been really easy to take over.”
St. Amour said first and foremost the goal of the program is to try to silence that familiar complaint of many youngsters that there simply is nothing to do.
“We wanted to be able to give kids something to do for free,” St. Amour said. “Really, that is our biggest goal with this. We wanted kids to have something to do during the summertime, something where they could learn a little and have some fun and not just sit in front of the TV or playing Playstation, but actually get out and have something to do.”
And many of the participants agree and have come back year after year.
“Most of us have all been here before,” said Brittany Lloyd, 11. “If you come here you don't just sit around doing nothing. You come here and see all your friends and there is always a lot to do and that makes it a lot of fun.”
This year St. Amour has seen the numbers for the camp increase significantly.
“We are averaging about 70 kids a day,” St. Amour said. “Last year they were averaging 40 to 50 a day, so we have had a lot more kids get involved this year, which is great to see. That was one of the things I did was go into the classrooms here at school and tell the kids about it. We have flyers all over the place and we really made a big effort to get a lot of kids involved this summer.”
Designed for children from kindergarten up, the camp offers a variety of activities throughout the day, such as pottery classes and arts and crafts.
“I think there is something for everyone,” St. Amour said. “I think it is really well set up and things run pretty well. The arts and crafts and pottery the kids really seem to like and at the end of the day they are always leaving with something they've made, which is great.”
This is definitely one of the favorite activities among the children.
“Arts and crafts is definitely my favorite,” said Julia Cardinale, 11. “You get to make a lot of different things, like boondoggle and learn a lot of different crafts.”
But there is also an emphasis placed on physical activities as well.
Children have the chance for open gym time to play games like dodgeball and basketball.
Through the course of the four-week camp, a number of specialized sport camps will also be offered focusing on sports like soccer, basketball, softball and tennis with the school's varsity coaches heading up these clinics.
“We try to focus on the fundamentals,” said St. Amour, who also coaches varsity soccer. “We want the kids to be able to get the skills they are going to need like passing and dribbling and things like that and we also want them to see if they like the game and have fun playing with their friends and see if they like it and if they might want to go on to play more and we can point them in the right direction.”
But on a long hot summer days there is nothing like a refreshing dip in the pool.
Throughout the day the kids are given the opportunity to dive in and cool off.
“The kids all love that,” St. Amour said. “We have the younger kids in there in the morning and the older kids in the afternoon and they can't wait to get in there.”
While arts and crafts and games are fun, this is the time that many kids said that they most anxiously look forward to.
“You get to swim around and have free time with your friends,” Evelyn Marks, 13, said. “And you get to cool off. That's definitely my favorite part.”
St. Amour said that he has been pleased to see the response from the kids this summer and hopes that more will stop by and check out the camp.
“I've talked to the kids and parents,” St. Amour said. “And everyone has been pleased. The kids are really happy and it gives parents a little bit of a break and things have been going really smoothly. It is free and I hope that more kids will take the time to walk out or ride their bikes or stop by and check out what we are doing here.”
For more information on the camp contact the Cato-Meridian Recreation Center at 6266735
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