It's over! At least, by the time I actually post this with all of the pictures, it will be. We held our end of the summer Open House event two days ago and yesterday and today were all about the field trips!
Performance at the dA
Our kids actually performed their play at the dA Center for the Arts in Downtown Pomona on Saturday. The dA has been really wonderful and they are excited (as are we!) about partnering with us to teach the kids about art! Which is great because half the time, I'm the one responsible for coming up with an art project, and I can't draw a straight line with a ruler.
Art is not my spiritual gift.
DISCLAIMER: I did NOT take the following pictures (I think some of our LAUP interns did). And the dA is an AWESOME place. You should go check it out! http://www.daartcenter.org/
They also came in last Thursday to talk to the kids about a beautiful mural in Downtown Pomona that depicts much of Pomona's history and a vision of its future. It was really cool to point it out to the kids on our way down there, and I hope they take a closer look at it because it does show several of the things they learned about in the history workshop.
I can't comment on how the performace at the dA went, since I was "backstage" trying to corral and keep kids quiet. But I heard that it went great, and it seemed to be standing room only in the gallery. I also got some cute pictures and a video of the Troopers performing!
Open House
I was in charge of organizing the Open House event, which if you know me at all sounds like a bad idea. But it all seemed to go really well! It actually seemed way too easy, so I'm pretty sure I did something wrong... but the actual event looked great. I'm 100% positive that's because I delegated the things I knew I wouldn't be good at to other people and they probably picked up my slack in other areas too.
Party planning is not my spiritual gift.
I didn't get a chance to take pictures at the event, but I'm hoping I'll get them soon from those who did.
Field Trips
I only get to go on the field trip I organized, and luckily, there wasn't a whole lot of organization on my part, since I asked a friend of Pomona Hope's if she could arrange something for us (she's definitely got connections!). Here is what the kids got to do on all their field trips:
Yesterday:
1st graders got to go to Palomares Park and jump in a bounce house, play in the park, and have a pizza lunch.
4-5th graders got to go bowling!
Today:
Middle School students went to see Despicable Me 2 at the Edwards Theater in La Verne this morning, and they got drinks and popcorn.
Our 2-3rd graders will be taking a historical tour of the Fox Theater and then eating dinner at the Food Trucks at the Fairplex.
After School Program
Don't think that just because the Summer program is over that our staff gets a break. Oh no. We get about a week without kids in which we need to rearrange the rooms and set them up for the school year. That's also the week that we need to train volunteers so that we have someone to hep us when we do open up again in 3 weeks to the students. The week after volunteer training is when we will be testing students to determine in which group to place them.
If you're interested (which you totally are!) in volunteering with us for the After School Program, the upcoming dates and times of trainings are as follows (and you only need to attend one):
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 3-5:30 pm
Please contact me at liz@pomonahope.org if you're planning on attending
After this, we will be holding monthly training sessions on the first week of every month.
Volunteering other people for things... THAT'S my spiritual gift.
