Community Corner
Carver Marks Summer's End With Songs and Celebration
Campers get together for one last celebration to remember the summer
Friday night marked the culmination of a busy summer for kids at the Carver Center in Port Chester.
A night of dancing, singing, and awards took place in front of proud parents and eager children. Kids from ages five to 14 were dressed in yellow t-shirts, with Carver Center printed in black letters on the front. The rest of the open yellow space had notes and signatures in a rainbow of colors from fellow friends and staff members.
“All classrooms participate in something they did this summer, from our youngest to our oldest,” Janett Grose, Children’s Programs Manager, explained to me before the celebration.
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The Carver Center summer program hosts 130 children for a six week period. The programs’ creed is giving youth a balanced day of enrichment, play, and learning within a safe academic setting. It runs weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., filled with activities from swimming lessons to field trips to Liberty Science Center.
The summer program prides itself on exposing children to things outside their daily lives. International Wednesdays focuses on a different country each week, immersing kids in foreign music, food, and overall culture. Kids even plant and pick their own vegetables at an on-site garden throughout the summer
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“We focus on project based learning,” said Wilson Cano, director of programs. “We want the kids to engage in all five senses while they are here.”
Cano is in his rookie year as director of programs for the Carver Center. A retired New York City Detective, his previous job centered on policy making and advocacy for the Department of Youth and Community Development throughout the five boroughs.
Cano’s plans for future programs are ambitious. He wants to introduce rugby, tennis, and even scuba diving in the near future.
Friday evening’s celebration ran for more than an hour, with pomp and excitement throughout.
The first- and second-graders started with a choreographed dance before moving to a tango improve. Next, the third- and fourth-graders practiced their public speaking while showing off runway skills in front of flashing cameras and a cheering audience. Fifth- and sixth-graders, fresh off their performance at Open Door’s Street Fair, were grooving in unison to Stevie Wonder’s song “I Wish.”
Nona Burnett’s six-year-old daughter Jenay, a first year camper at Carver Center, was a part of the first dance group.
“I’m very happy with the program and my daughter loved it,” Burnett told me toward the end of the night. “Everybody was so accepting and that is important at her age.”
Choosing a summer program for a young child can prove difficult. Finances aside, there are a number of factors at work.
“Besides being cost effective, I work in the community and it offers things many other programs don’t, such as back to school supplies. I feel I get the most benefit for the cost,” Burnett said.
In addition, her daughter Janay made an entire set of new friends – an important intangible not measured by money.
The entire night had a strong communal feel. At one point nearly every seat was empty because parents, kids, and counselors, took part in the electric slide. Another high point was during a camp-wide sing-a-long to Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never.” Glen Williams Jr., a second year counselor, took up a rapping verse in-between choruses to a roaring crowd.
“I’m used to singing instead of rapping,” an enthused Williams said after his performance.
Williams, a 17-year-old who conducts a children’s choir in his church, switched from an older to younger group this year. He says he has interest in being a teacher when he grows up, but is happy to be at Carver putting smiles on faces.
With about 60 percent of the twenty member staff returning for the Fall, things are looking a little less stressful for Wilson Cano in the upcoming future.
“Its been a hectic, enjoyable summer, but we work hard to not get stressed,” Cano said.
For information on events and programs at the Carver Center visit their website www.carvercenter.org or call (914) 939-4464.
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