All the programs are in place and are in full force here at the Center. March has been an eventful month and the air has been buzzing with activity from the steady flow of students and tourists. Having students from the nearby Escuela Chilamate in the After School Program adds a whole new element to the Center and there has been a lot more life and energy floating around the air.
The After School Program consists of two groups: The first group is officially considered ASP and is for students in 2nd to 4th grade. The second group is called the Eco Club and is for 5th and 6th graders. When I first arrived to the Center and told shared with others that I was in charge of the ASP, I got a lot of responses along the lines of “Good luck!” and “You’re going to need a lot of energy for that!”. With my optimism and enthusiasm for working with an age group I haven’t worked with before, I thought it would be no big deal and not be that hard. Boy was I wrong. Working with the younger group has proved to be quite the challenge! Because they have so much energy, it is hard for them to pay attention, follow directions and stay on task. Also, because they come directly after their classes are done, they don’t want to feel like they are coming to another class and want to have fun more than anything. Due to this challenge, I have to think of really fun and inventive activities to capture their interest and mask what they are doing as learning. It is a constant learning process for me to see what works and what doesn’t. Now that the group is dwindling down, it is easier to manage the group and see some progress being made.
Another one of my responsibilities is helping with the Bird Club two Saturdays out of the month. A steady group of high school students have been coming to the club consisting of one hour of in-class training and one hour in the field to identify birds. It is great to see the enthusiasm and genuine interest of the people who continue to come to the club. I'm learning a lot about birding along side the students and really developing my skills to take over the group when I have to be in charge. In This week we sat down to plan for International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) on May 9th. We are trying to utilize as many of the students and groups at the Center along with help from the Selva Verde Lodge next door to help make it a well rounded and interesting event for everyone. We will have origami, face painting, mask making, various presentations having to do with birds, and a short play and songs performed by the students from the Eco Club in my After School Program. Planning and promotion has begun and hopefully things will run well!
On the same note of planning, we have had a few meeting as a group to see what we can do to create a stronger link between the community and the Center. We have come up with two ideas that will be starting off in the next few weeks. Next week, we will begin to show movies for the public here at the Center free of charge. Also we plan to have a soccer tournament between the target communities we work with that will start April 25th. With the start of these two events, we hope to promote and distinguish ourselves as a Learning Center. When one asks a member of the community what the Learning Center is, more often than not the response is “Selva Verde”. Although we are affiliated with Selva Verde Lodge, we are a separate working entity that works along side of the Lodge that has a lot more resources to offer the community than most people in the area think. We hope that the residents of the Sarapiquà will respond positively to our efforts and understand who we are and what we stand for.
Sara Rodriguez
