Learning up, numbers down at Kids Day
CHILLICOTHE – Sometimes in education, if you can reach just one child at a time, that’s a success.
The turnout at the annual Kids Day Saturday at Allen Elementary brought that truism home, as the silver lining to what proved to be a relatively low attendance for the child enrichment program was that those children taking part got a lot of individual attention from the volunteer instructors involved.
Instructors like Jeriah Bowling and Hannah Snodgrass from Chillicothe Dance, who spent the early afternoon session of the Tiny Tot Dance class working two-on-one with 6-year-old Mya Harris on dance moves to the music of The Wiggles. Bowling, along with his brother, Lewis, used to take part in Kids Day when they were children and have helped their mother, Allison, in recent years, handling some of the instruction. This year, both were leading classes themselves in dance and soccer.
Jeriah Bowling, 19, said he hopes the children walk away from the classes in much the same way he did years ago.
“A photography class I took, it actually leaned me towards taking more pictures as I grew up and one time I made Buckeyes, and that made me enjoy making desserts,” he said.
Saturday’s event, which is considered one of the better known fundraisers for the Child Protection Center, exposed children to a wide range of activities ranging from Karate and baseball to theater acting, remote control flight, basic first aid and solar oven cooking. One of the better-attended early afternoon sessions found about a half-dozen children involved with flower pot creations.
Allison Bowling said the reason Chillicothe Dance has been involved for more than a decade with Kids Day is the exposure it offers for kids to try different things. The program, she added, has helped her own sons become interested in volunteering time with such programs as the library’s Bookworm summer program and with such organizations as Relay For Life. One of her sons, who took an Earth Day class as a child, acted on its lessons by planting a tree that is still growing today.
“It was fun, it was great,” she said when recalling how Kids Day became a family event when her children were younger. “They offer a variety of things that kids may not have access to, or even that can just whet their appetite (to try new things).”
Now in its second year at Allen since moving from Mt. Logan Elementary, this year’s enrollment in the classes was down considerably from the norm.
“Typically in the past we’ve had around 100 or 110 kids and this year, we’ve had right around 60,” said Felissa Fortner, a body safety instructor with the Child Protection Center. “We’re not sure exactly why. We’ve had a variety of new classes come in and a variety of new teachers come in, but with the 60 that we’ve had, it’s been a great day.”
Julie Oates, executive director of the Child Protection Center, said that while the event is not a major fundraiser financially, it has been a popular one in the past.
“It’s not one of our largest fundraisers, but it’s hard to let it go because kids love it,” she said. “We have kids teaching classes who were taking classes when they were little.”
The Child Protection Center provides services for children who have been sexually or physically abused and provides educational programs geared toward keeping children safe. According to Oates, one of the center’s focus areas presently is conducting trainings across the county on sexual abuse and human trafficking as they pertain to the local area.
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