The school year may be coming to a close on Friday, June 6, but opportunities for students to continue learning do not end then. There are several summer camps parents can register their children for, including the collaboration between McPolin Elementary School and Holy Cross Ministries.
Diego Zegarra, the afterschool program coordinator at Holy Cross Ministries, held a registration meeting at McPolin last week, and Latinos in Action students from Park City High School joined him to conduct an informational survey.
Emmanuel Cornejo, Elizabeth Quintana and Jorge Casarubias assisted parents in attendance with the surveys, which Cornejo said asked Latino parents what they feel they or their children need at the school in order to help them succeed.
Zegarra said he was grateful for the students’ help and feels that the Latino community in Park City needs opportunities to be heard and helped in any way possible. That is why Holy Cross Ministries is working with the school district to provide affordable summer camps.
“Our camp here at McPolin includes half a day learning math, science and language arts,” he said. “The other half of the day, the students get to take part in recreational activities with [Holy Cross Ministries].”
Students will spend mornings with school district employees learning and spending some time in the computer lab. In the afternoon, Zegarra said, they will participate with the staff in arts and crafts, science experiments and other activities, including fishing, tennis, swimming at the pool and dancing.
Olivia Carlón’s daughter, Janet Ramirez, is a third-grade student at McPolin, and she said she signs her daughter up for the summer program every year. She prefers that her daughter spend as much time as she can learning, she said, because sitting idly at home during the summer will only fuel her dislike of studying.
“I don’t like for her to just be at home doing nothing, because when she doesn’t study, that is when I struggle with her,” she said. “She needs help with math and reading, so I send her over here to work on that.”
Zegarra said the registration fee is $100, and the program begins June 16 and runs through July 23, Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. He said the school will provide free breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and lunch at 11:30 a.m. for anyone in the community under 18, even if they are not registered for the program.
His main concern, he said, is making the program, now in its fifth year, as inclusive as possible. It is usually comprised 95 percent of Latino students, and Zegarra wants the community to know that it is available for all students.
“I would like to see that change and continue working toward a more integrated program,” he said. “Hopefully with the help of the school district, we can make that change and continue to offer opportunities for students to keep learning even when the school year is over.”
For more information or to register a student for the Holy Cross Ministries summer programs, contact Diego Zegarra at [email protected] or 801-261-3440.