Patterson camp keeps youngsters engaged

The Patterson Community Center summer camp is up and running with energetic kids excited about play and learning. Camp began June 6 and will end July 15.

“The first week was pretty good,” summer camp worker Jorrell Thomas said. “They were well-behaved. They wanted to learn, and they played real well together. They were tired afterward. We wore them out.”

According to the National Summer Learning Association, high-quality summer learning programs have been shown to improve reading and math skills, school attachment, motivation and relationships with adults and peers.

Thomas works with the 5- to 7-year-old group. She teaches math and language arts skills.

“I have the little kids,” Thomas said. “I work with them on how to properly write their letters, like two or three letters a day.”

A summer learning study, sponsored by the Wallace Foundation, suggests summer learning loss equates to approximately one month of instruction. The loss varies according to grade level.

The effects of summer learning programs last for two years, which includes voluntary programs.

Some 5- and 6-year-olds admit to enjoying the academic aspect as much as playtime.

“I like school,” first-grader Anyreia McCoy said while eating her snack. “I work a lot here. I like math. I like it over here because I play in the gym.”

First-grader Camren Charles, 6, likes playing basketball and learning.

“We learn letters and shapes,” Charles said. “I like to learn.”

Saul Grogan, 5, added he likes playing kickball and other games. He also enjoys coloring shapes and identifying circles, squares, and hearts.

The summer instructor admits working with younger children is challenging.

“But you know, after a while, they warm up to me, I guess,” Thomas said. “So, it’s a challenge but I like it. I like helping them out.”

At the heart of her challenge is keeping the group focused.

“They have a short attention span,” Thomas said. “So once you start something up, you’ve got to hurry up and move on to the next thing because they’re just done with it. They don’t want to do it anymore.”

But the students do learn.

“I will always go back and give them something to see what they’ve learned,” Thomas said. “And they start getting the concepts and remembering it. That’s why I liked it so much, because I noticed that I do have an impact on them.”

And this is a way for Thomas to give back to the community.

“I’m just really making a difference in the community by helping the kids out,” Thomas said. “So when they go back to school, they’ll know some of the things they need to know while they’re there.”

The summer program is in its fifth year under the direction of Carrie Johnson, who retired after 36 years as a teacher.

“The purpose is to give the kids enrichment,” Johnson said. “We try to continue the learning for summer. And then we want to provide them a place for recreation and other activities, a safe environment for them in the summer.”

Johnson measures the success by the number of students who return.

“The parents are appreciative of the low cost of $50 for six weeks,” Johnson said. “The kids enjoy it. I think we do help some of those who have struggled in school. They get another opportunity to enhance their learning.

“We continue the tutoring throughout the school year, too.”

The summer program is an initiative started by Mayor Rodney Grogan, Johnson said.

The program not only provides enrichment but high school and college graduates can make money over the summer.

Thomas is a December 2015 graduate of Nicholls State University. Other camp workers are graduates of University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Patterson High School.

“They work very well with the children,” Johnson said. “The children respond well to them because they know them from the community and some are just happy to be here.”

The summer camp also offers youth opportunities to learn about life skills, bully awareness and prevention. Community members are scheduled to come and teach boys how to tie a necktie.

“This is a great experience for the children, a social experience,” Johnson said. “There are academics involved. There’s recreation. And it helps the kids to be more social. They can be themselves, express themselves.”

Johnson’s hope “is just to show them that you can be anything in life you want to be. It doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s always where you’re going.”