YWCA After School Feature

We wanted to share this wonderful article from this month’s VERVE Magazine.  The YWCA is very proud of CiCi Weston and of our School Age Programs. We are currently taking sign ups After School, and we are also recruiting volunteer tutors for the program. If you want to register your child for after school, you can stop by the YWCA, call 254-7206 x 111 or email cici.weston@ywcaofasheville.org. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Kathy Dawkins, 254-7206 x 205 or kathy. dawkins@ywcaofasheville.org.

YWCA’s After School Students Reap the Benefits of Experiential Learning

article by Sherri L. McLendon
photo by Matt Rose

CiCi Weston smiles a lot, and it’s the small moments that sustain her. The School-Age Programs Director at the YWCA of Asheville and Western North Carolina, she became inspired a few summers ago after staffers and kids cultivated and picked ears of corn. “We popped the corn in the kitchen,” she says. “The children were fascinated with the fact that we grew our own popcorn.”

Despite that light moment, her mission is growing ever more complex. This upbeat leader believes it’s possible to transform the lives of kids through direct experience.

Before the popcorn breakthrough, the students had little knowledge about the way the food they prepared was grown and harvested. So Weston rolled up her sleeves and created a hands-on curriculum — including a garden — with a goal to address childhood obesity. She and the other instructors began to introduce a range of healthy foods.

Her team incorporated math, science, writing, basic economics, and business skills into the curriculum. “We’re exposing the children to things they need to know,” says Weston. “They’re not eating potato chips; they’re eating fresh vegetables and foods made on site.”

The students’ sense of achievement and community continues to make Weston smile. She began to approach experts willing to offer children’s programming and bring to life the joys of cooking, gardening, art, drama, poetry, music, swimming, and other interests, such as Girls on the Run, an extracurricular track program.

Through her efforts, parents of this fall’s crop of elementary-school-aged kids will find the Asheville YWCA After-School Program — already a five-star-rated venue where swimming lessons are included in the standard tuition — enhanced through a series of new enrichment activities. In Western North Carolina, economic stresses on families means employed parents may be stretched thin. The After-School Program offers an unusually affordable solution, including limited scholarships.

Unfortunately, cuts in state funding have eradicated comparable programming for middle-school students and teens, even as demand grows. Weston says she would “love to see people step up and see that happen for middle schoolers and teens.”

She rejects the argument that middle-school students are old enough to stay home by themselves. “We know differently. They’re not going to stay home if their friends are out.”

The reality of the situation can be read in her face. The light leaves her eyes, and her tone takes on a searching quality. She’s still smiling — but searching for answers the whole time.

Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath Visits Summer Camp

This morning the YWCA Summer Camp welcomed Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath. She spoke to the campers and toured our garden with garden manager Ms. Josephine English. We plan to have her back later this summer, after our harvest, for a cooking activity with the campers. Thanks for visiting, Leah!

Growing Mint, Making Ice Cream

Children in the YWCA After-School program have been very active in our organic garden this semester. Recently they took part in a fun activity using mint that they had grown and harvested. Specifically, the mint was used as an ingredient to make ice cream in individual ice-filled bags! It was a hit. If  that activity doesn’t get kids excited about gardening, what will?

YWCA Children's Organic Garden

 

Making ice cream with mint from the garden.

Enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Child Care Kids Pick Basil

The other morning children in our Child Care Center picked basil that was then made into pesto for them to eat. The raised beds and edible plantings on the Child Care Center playground are part of a number of  ”Preventing Obsesity by Design” playground improvements.

Day of Caring

Last Thursday was the United Way of Asheville & Buncombe County Day of Caring. The YWCA had two groups of volunteers who worked on two important projects here. In the morning, staff from Roberts-Stevens Law Firm worked in the Child Care Center playground creating a space for a grassy area and helped to build a planter for vegetables and flowers. In the afternoon, volunteers from the Department of Juvenile Justice painted the Drop-In Child Care room and cleaned toys and furniture. We are very grateful for these wonderful improvements to our facility! Many thanks to the United Way and to everyone who volunteered for the Day of Caring.

Day of Caring

Today is the United Way Day of Caring. The YWCA was lucky to have a group of volunteers from Lowe’s, Lowe’s Heroes, spend the day here. They worked in the Child Care Center playground and in the YWCA’s organic garden. They installed new benches and flowers in the playground to the specifications of our Preventing Obesity by Design grant. The volunteers also built raised beds for the garden. Lowe’s donated all of the supplies. The difference before and after is notable (see the photo gallery below). And even more volunteers from Lowe’s will be here tomorrow, working inside the building painting our After-School. It’s so wonderful! Many thanks to everyone involved!