Voss explained that the younger a child is, the easier it is to learn a new language so she was glad the district offered the opportunity for her son. She said after a few weeks, she was already seeing progress.

District 13 hasn’t offered foreign language in its schools in more than 20 years. An anonymous donor offered two scholarships for children to take enrichment Spanish or Italian.

Denise DeMeo, a second-grade teacher at Dever who coordinates the Saturday enrichment program, said she hopes to keep it going every year. The district was going to offer the program in the fall, but enrollment was low because of competition with youth sports. DeMeo said the winter seems to be the right time to do it. “This gives them an opportunity to come to a warm environment,” she said.

She is also trying to find the right balance of courses. Foreign language and science seem to be extremely popular, however DeMeo also wants to offer new courses to keep the program fresh and keep students coming back. For example, she said creative edibles was an art course with a “different twist.”

Chloe Yack, a fifth-grader at Dever, said the food course was a great opportunity for her to put her creativity to use. She also didn’t mind coming to school on Saturday. “It’s actually pretty fun,” she said, “more fun than it sounds.”