Summer Camp at YWCA
Secondary and primary school students are on holidays and away from the classrooms. But there is a way to keep them occupied in ongoing programs. The YWCA is hosting various summer camps at its location on Saint Thomas Street in Belize City. There are the traditional swimming, arts and craft, language arts and mathematics courses as well as cooking, cake and pastry lessons for those aspiring chefs?. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
The Young Women’s Christian Association, better known as the YWCA, has been existent in Belize for six decades, offering services that empower women and youth, while impacting the lives of thousands of Belizeans through its social programs. Throughout the year, youths who attend the various programs have been learning basic skills in sewing, cooking, as well as remedial mathematics and language classes. For the summer period, over two hundred children combined are attending both the CASSA and the YWCA summer classes.
Joevannie Collins
Joevannie Collins, CASSA Team Leader, Belize District
“Our CASSA program is generally summarized as Creating A Safe Space Agenda. And this project has been running for the past two years and we foster kids from high school—both first form and second form—and primary school, standard five students. And what we do with them throughout the year, is to really teach them math, English reading—the subjects that we found were really down in the educational aspects and we try to do an after school tutoring program to forecast that we will teach these children and they will learn these subjects so that they could pass it in school.”
Camilla Crawford
Camilla Crawford, Program Coordinator, YWCA Summer Program
“At the Y for summer 2016, we are offering remedial classes in math and language. We have arts and craft, karate, cooking, cake and pastry. It’s different stages for different ages. Right now going on we have the remedial classes from infant one to standard six. We are covering the basics that the children should have mastered before the summer break and then we are trying to prepare them to enter the new class in September.”
The program is really to get all the students up to the standard that is adequate for their transition into a higher level at school. Most of the students have been with either of the programs for approximately one year and spoke of their experiences.
.
Rhondine Hower
Rhondine Hower, 3rd Form Student, Wesley College
“I became part of the program because first my grade was average and now that I have attended the CASSA program, my grades are very high for me…in the eighties and nineties and I am very proud of that.”
Duane Moody
“How has the program benefited you?”
Eric McKenzie
Eric McKenzie, Std. 6 Student, Grace Primary School
“Good. I pass in school and it helped me how to read and stuff.”
Kishai Nicholas, 2nd Form Student, Edward P. Yorke
“I’ve been in the CASSA program for a year now and it has helped me in mostly math and Spanish.”
Duane Moody
“So would you advise other people to become part of the program?”
Kishai Nicholas
Kishai Nicholas
“Yes sir, because to me it is like a lot of help.”
Duane Moody
“Talk to me about the summer program; weh you like about the summer program?”
Felix Shepherd
Felix Shepherd, Standard 4 Student, St. Joseph
“Everything…math, language, fun, everything. We get to practice because tomorrow we are going to do a talent show and we learn math language and most other things.”
Briel Diego, Standard 5 Student, Holy Redeemer
“It’s really great. I have a lot of fun, I get to learn things that I didn’t even know about and it is just fun with the teachers and they give me a great experience.”
Duane Moody
“Talk to us about some of the things that you didn’t know.”
Briel Diego
Briel Diego
“I didn’t know about profit and loss, but they taught me that. And the n I didn’t know about the really long division that they gave me and it was really fun.”
According to CASSA Team Leader, Jovannie Collins, the programs wouldn’t have been possible without the support from public and private sector partners.
Joevannie Collins
“We can’t do it ourselves. So we have the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Education, we have the Youth Department who has also volunteered to bring in some assistance to help us with the abundance of kids and we also have other agencies who give a helping hand and we commend them for doing that.”
The CASSA program which caters specifically to seventy-five students is also replicated at the YWCA in Belmopan. Duane Moody for News Five.
