Et cetera : Where have the NCCC dinosaurs gone?

Where have the NCCC dinosaurs gone?

By: Gaby and Phil, Maple 4

Gale-force winds blasted through on July 11 and blew the Maple 4 dinosaurs, of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC), to Marquette, Michigan. Since this team is not one to lie around and do nothing, it has agreed to work with the YMCA of Marquette County.

This YMCA has child care programs set up all over the Upper Peninsula. For their eight week round, Maple 4 is split up into three rotating groups. The first group is working with the Y Summer Day Camp group, the second is spending part of their day with the Lake Superior Village Youth Community (LSVC) center, and the third is spending their entire day at the Vandenboom Early Childhood Care center.

The Y Summer Day Camp group is a brand new experience for nearly every member of the team as they have not formally worked with children before, except for NCCC member Phil being an Elementary Education major. This camp operates like any standard summer camp, doing arts and crafts and playing sports, games, etc. The age limit for this group is 7-12 year olds.

The dinosaurs are living at the LSVC so working there is turning out to be an exciting experience, as every member of the team is able to see how the facility is utilized. This is operated as a free program for children from the Lake Superior Village housing community to participate, as long as they are 5-17 years old.

Maple 4’s main job is working at Vandenboom. At what once was an elementary school, child care professionals watch over “classrooms” of ‘less than 12 months,’ ’12 to 24 months,’ 2-3 year olds, 3-4 year olds, 4-5 year olds, and 5-7 year olds. It is in the process of being nationally accredited and asked for the help of an AmeriCorps NCCC team to bring them closer to their goal. Among their many responsibilities, members of the team help monitor the children in the rooms, perform general maintenance on the school building, paint and clean each classroom, and construct a fence around the perimeter of the property (to block any unwanted guests and prevent anyone from wandering off).

Overall, the team is very excited to work with children and is enjoying the Marquette community.