Kiene is one of our Middlesex Community College interns this semester and we asked him to share some of his experience with us. It has been great watching him learn more about working kids and learn more about himself. Here is his second guest post.
If you’re interested in signing your child up for Discovery AfterSchool classes, our spring semester registration will open the week of December 8th. Call us today to set up an appointment.
The Kids of Green Street
Green Street definitely helps serve as a getaway for the kids that are part of the Discovery AfterSchool Program. With such a wide variety of classes offered, there is truly something for everyone to do. That is one of the great benefits of having a place like Green Street in Middletown. It gives each individual kid the opportunity to find a class that best suits them and provides a safe place for self-expression.
After watching the kids participate in these classes for weeks, I thought it would be an awesome idea to give the kids in the program a platform to share their favorite things about Green Street. The middle school kids are what I like to call program “veterans”. Most of them have essentially grown up in the program and really gotten the chance to experience a lot of what Green Street has to offer. One of the students I talked with made mention of her love for the Musical Mentoring Program. She spoke to me about how much she loved the step-by-step approach to learning to play the piano and that she feels like she is beginning to master the instrument. Another one of the sixth grade students beamed with excitement as she told me about the Wesleyan Bound Program she attends as one of her AfterSchool classes. Going to classes on the Wesleyan campus and getting to learn with her friends were just a few of the many things that made this particular student so enthused about the class.
Getting to have fun and learn amongst the company of friends was a reoccurring theme in my conversations with the kids. A fifth grade student shared these feelings along with a love for his the Computer-Aided Art class. He mentioned who much he enjoys getting to learn about computers – how they work and all the different things you can do with them.
Even the littlest members of the Green Street family have very specific opinions about what makes Green Street an awesome place. Dancing and Art topped the list for one of the first graders. He highlighted that drawing fish in Art class is he area of expertise but made sure to mention that his artistic ability stretches way beyond that.
As many rounds of interviewing came to an end, one thing was very clear about how the kids of Green Street felt about the Discovery AfterSchool Program. Not only do they appreciate it, but they genuinely love the time they spend at Green Street. Hearing all these kids proudly explain their answers to my questions reconfirmed to me how great of a place Green Street is for the youth of Middletown. Knowing that the kids are taking away such great things from AfterSchool, makes it all the better working with them. After hearing about all the fun things the kids do on a daily basis, I know that the sky is the limit for every single one of the kids involved at Green Street.