Volume II Issue 4

October 2006

Blue Heron partnership supports families

    Blue Heron Middle School will offer parent education nights every 3^rd Thursday every other month throughout the school year (excluding December) for parents of middle school students. The first in the series begins October 19^th. The evening will start at 6 pm with a soup and bread dinner and a “meet and greet” with principal Mark Decker. Following the dinner, a parenting skills session will be offered on specific topics--the first being “communicating with your child”. The skills sessions will be jointly facilitated in turn by school counselor Kathryn Kent, principal Mark Decker, Jefferson County prevention coordinator Kelly Matlock, and district prevention coordinator Pam Rogge. One hour parent to parent small group discussion will follow the skills sessions. The parent education nights will be announced in the school’s monthly newsletter and online at the Port Townsend School District website.

    Members of the YMCA Mountain View girls’ club will offer childcare, along with their club facilitator Julie Knott, during the education nights for all ages of children. There will be a games and activities room, while another room will be available to do homework.

    “We’re just hoping that lots of parents will find [parent education night] interesting,” says Kent, “ and you don’t have to attend the full series, only those topics relevant to you.”

Tennis program scores

    The YMCA is offering tennis lessons at Mountain View Elementary and Blue Heron Middle schools thanks to the strong leadership, coaching, enthusiasm, and grant writing skills of Julie Jablonski. The after-school program took off with a grant of $1,000 from the US Tennis Association Pacific Northwest Section (USTA/PWN). Additionally, USTA/PWA granted a total of $5,000 in equipment to public and private schools in our area for school PE tennis programs. “The grants have enabled our community to provide [equipment] for children to learn this life-time sport,” says Jablonski. “I’ve enjoyed the children’s enthusiasm, and they keep asking when they can play again.”

    Equipment can be shared between the schools and the YMCA, providing a large number of children a chance to learn tennis. “If schools and the YMCA team up this spring, we could offer after-school intramural tennis and play teams from other areas,” says Jablonski.

 Six busy weeks at Y Camp

    Grant Street Y-kids Summer Camp expanded to six weeks this year with a ‘Treasure Island’ theme. Campers, ages 5 to 12, enjoyed daily excursions that included both local fare, such as the Marine Science Center and North Beach, and farther a-field to weekly family movie day in Poulsbo, to pick raspberries in Sequim, swim at the YMCA pool in Bremerton and play at the Dream Park in Port Angeles.

    Community guests and outreach included visitors from Disability Awareness Starts Here (DASH), a beach activity day with Olympic Salmon Coalition, outdoor marimba music with Linc, and the glo-germ activity with Yuko from the Health Department.

    A big thank you to everyone who helped make the camp one exciting adventure.

Directors Corner

I am happy to see that young gymnasts and their families have found a new home at Fort Worden gym. Families of the girls and boys, who were temporarily displaced when Valley Gym closed, took it upon themselves to find a new venue and classes are now up and running.  Classes run in 8-week sessions, Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday for ages 3 and up. Call 531-0748 for more information.