53.0°,
Mostly Cloudy A summer of smiles in District 13
More than 300 children are spending their mornings at school in District 13 this summer. But unlike the rigors of the academic year, these kids get to spend their time playing games, running through the sprinklers and enjoying ices.
The annual summer recreation program began and July 5 and continues through the first week of August, and is 3½ hours each day. Students from the Willow Road and James A. Dever schools are attending the program at Dever, while Howell Road and Wheeler Avenue School students are at Howell.
Summer Principal Denise DeMeo said the program is going very well, and noted that many of the program leaders have returned for another summer. Children entering kindergarten and first grade are led by a certified teacher, and the students entering grades 2-6 are supervised by a counselor. Each group also has a junior counselor.
DeMeo said that the counselors and junior counselors are typically high school and college students. There are also a handful of volunteers at each school, which DeMeo said is a stepping stone position to becoming a paid counselor in the future.
The children have a busy day, spending time on the playground, playing sports in the gymnasium and games in the cafeteria, going to art class and dance class, and running through the sprinklers on those hot days. There are also field trips to the Malverne Movie Theater, Hot Skates and Sandee Lanes bowling alley.
Andrew Cardi, a who will be a sixth-grader at Wheeler Avenue School in the fall, said he has been coming to the summer recreation program since kindergarten and enjoys playing sports, especially kickball. Fellow Wheeler Avenue student Michael Ott, a fifth-grader, enjoys the game room.
“Everyone’s really nice and it’s really fun to play all the sports with your friends,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of new friends.”
Alex Benincasa, who will be a second-grader at Willow Road School in September, said the program’s leaders make summer at school a good time. “Every year I make a new counselor friend,” he said. “They’re always nice and they don’t yell.”
