Ep. 10: Blair Lyerly-Samuelson and Sam Oveson: Unlocking Summer Opportunities Through Community Education

Ever wondered how to keep your kids engaged and learning during the hot summer months? Discover the secret formula to a fun and educational summer in our latest episode of the 742 CoffeeCast. From art to robotics, these experts reveal the extensive range of Youth Enrichment programs designed to blend fun and education seamlessly.

Meet Blair and Sam as they highlight Project Challenge and youth enrichment classes. Find out how the district continues to offer diverse activities like fencing, language, and music, catering to the varied interests of the community. Our guests also shine a spotlight on the ARISE program, ensuring that all students, including those with disabilities, have access to these enriching opportunities.

Curious about how these programs come to life? Get an insider’s view into the process of organizing and staffing these classes, from hiring district aquatic instructors to engaging high school coaches and local experts. Learn how easy it is to register for these programs through the community ed website. Plus, if you’ve got a creative idea for a class, find out how you can propose and teach it within the community education framework. Tune in and let us guide you through the wealth of opportunities that await your family's summer in the St. Cloud Area School District.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The 742 CoffeeCast is your ultimate destination for insightful conversations, thought-provoking ideas and innovative strategies in St Cloud Area School District. Your host is Director of Community Engagement and Communications, tammy DeLand. Grab a cup of coffee and join us. Well, it is finally summer and we've pushed past the rain a little bit and are enjoying little sunshine, which is always good. We're here today on CoffeeCast with Blair Lyerly Samuelson and Sam Overson from the district's community education department, and we want to talk about everything that's wonderful in summer programming. So welcome, so glad you're here. Thanks for having us. Yeah, absolutely, let's start, maybe Blair and then Sam, if you want to just briefly give an introduction how long you've been with the district and we'll go from there.

Speaker 3: 0:58

Sure, so I'm Blair and I've been with the district for about 15 years, grew up in St Cloud, went away for college and decided to come back and have spent, like I said, about 15 years in 742. Five of those years in youth enrichment, which is currently my position, and then before that about 10 years in school age care and youth development.

Speaker 1: 1:19

So all of those years in community ed.

Speaker 3: 1:20

Correct Fantastic yeah A lot of years.

Speaker 1: 1:23

Fantastic Good for you. How about you?

Speaker 2: 1:32

Sam, I'm Sam. I am going to be starting my third year with community ed. I also grew up in the St Cloud area, stayed here for college, got to work with community ed departments throughout college, found that that was a great fit and have been really enjoying my time here with the St Cloud community ed department Awesome. Thanks again both of you Obviously one of the great fit and have been really enjoying my time here with the St Paul Community Ed Department Awesome. Thanks again both of you.

Speaker 1: 1:47

Obviously, one of the great things about summer is that the normal routine for school is lifted and weather gets better and schedules become more flexible. But Community Ed has actually offered a wide range of summer programming for children of all ages for a really long time, and it takes off right as soon as school lets out. Right? Maybe, blair, let's start with you Can you tell us about Youth Enrichment? That's the program you said you've been working with for about five years. What does that look like during the summer, and why and how is that important to families and the community?

Speaker 3: 2:25

So youth enrichment is a really important piece of community education and of a community really and of the district. You know we talk about how youth enrichment allows for out-of-school programming, whether it be to support academic programming during the school year or during the summer when it's more recreational, sometimes still academic during the summer. But it allows families to have these other activities for their kids to participate in, which can range from, you know, art activities we have high school programming, so some of our athletics activities comes through us during the summer Robotics, youth recreation or sports and then a big portion of our programming during the summer is swimming lessons or aquatics.

Speaker 3: 3:06

So, just you know, to really provide fun activities for our community, enriching activities, cultural, just sort of well-rounded activities for our kids to participate in in the community throughout the summer.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Do you find that families appreciate this because their school during the school year, which is very scheduled, sometimes it's a lot of pressure, but then summer comes and maybe kids can kind of just get into a pattern of sleeping late doing the iPad whatever, and so this kind of programming offers like kind of a fill for that.

Speaker 3: 3:45

Sure, in some situations offers sort of a bridge between you know the end of the school year and the start of the next year.

Speaker 3: 3:52

For instance, we'll have a Chinese immersion camp this summer for interested or incoming or existing Chinese immersion program participants. And so, you know, sometimes it's that academic kind of carryover, sometimes it's simply to play soccer alongside their friends or other youth. A lot of these activities happen in our buildings and so to some degree they're familiar for our participants in our community. Some of them happen in local businesses, just providing that really well rounded programming. For right now we're speaking about summer. We offer programming year round, and during the school year it's, you know, sort of that release after the school day of you know an activity for you know whether it be drawing or whatever it might be. It allows for families to have a place for their children to go but then also to be amongst their peers, and, you know, an enriching activity.

Speaker 1: 4:43

So it sounds like it's a balance almost of those fun recreational things, yeah, and also maybe a little bit to counter out what's known as the summer slide in academics. That's wonderful. That's great. Sam, I am wondering if you might talk a little bit. I don't think a lot of our listeners maybe are familiar with the ARISE program and because that supports youth enrichment in part that Blair is talking about, could you describe for us what that program is and what's happening with it this summer?

Speaker 2: 5:14

Yes, definitely so.

Speaker 2: 5:17

We offer something called the ARISE program.

Speaker 2: 5:19

It stands for a recreational inclusion support endeavor, for a recreational inclusion support endeavor, and what we do is we provide one-on-one support for students with disabilities that allows them to take part in community activities, both with our district and other community partners, and successfully participate alongside their neurotypical peers.

Speaker 2: 5:46

As we know, throughout the school year a lot of our students in our community get that one-on-one support throughout the school day and it ends when the school day ends. So we help bridge that gap and offer that support in activities outside of the school day. We support sports camps, art programs, theater programs, and that's not just within our district. We are a community program so we also connect with neighboring districts or camps or offerings through community partners like the city, the Paramount, and we can offer that one-on-one support for students that need just a little bit extra helping hand, whether it be an extra guide to help them stay focused, or if they potentially have a physical disability and need that one-on-one modification support to allow them to be successful in these opportunities that we have along with everybody else. So it's really about the inclusion and the accessibility of all of our community programs and we can help bridge that gap of additional support that a student may need.

Speaker 1: 6:59

That's so fantastic and thanks for bringing up this. Isn't just about an enrolled 742 student either. Community Ed is truly servicing that central Minnesota community, so thanks for bringing that up. Can you talk a little bit now about Project Challenge, which is different from Arise, and what Project Challenge does during the summer?

Speaker 2: 7:20

Yeah, definitely so. Project Challenge is our adults with disability part of Community Ed. So we have our adult, our youth and then our project challenge area. And what project challenge does is it really gears towards the community of people with disabilities in the area and gives them a space where they can connect with people with similar experiences, and it allows them also to have instructors that are able to provide variations, modifications, additional support they may need outside of just a regular adult enrichment class. Adult enrichment is open for everyone. Everyone can take the classes, but ours are geared more towards that specific community so they can share these events with people like them, create that sense of community with people of shared experiences.

Speaker 1: 8:22

Connections. Yeah, yep we do art classes.

Speaker 2: 8:26

We'll do meal, get togethers.

Speaker 1: 8:28

Project Challenge had a class last night, right, because I think our photographer went. It was called Wellness Beats. Yes, what was that?

Speaker 2: 8:36

This one actually started from Adult Enrichment and they had cardio drumming and it was a great offering, went really well, and we reached out to the instructor and asked if she would be willing to create a class similar to that, modified specifically for our group. So what she did is she combined the cardio drumming and then general wellness ideas. Sometimes they do a little bit of meditation, positive self-talk, breathing and stretching.

Speaker 1: 9:09

It sounds so fabulous, they talk about nutrition.

Speaker 2: 9:12

So she really came together and created this opportunity to encompass wellness as a whole but then also have that fitness aspect to make it a little more fun, kind of provide that well-rounded experience for our participants, Because a lot of times going to a health class may not seem that fun. So she did a really great job encompassing all of it into one opportunity so they can be active, have fun in this group, upbeat setting, but then also sprinkling some of that mental and self-help in there as well.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Wow, what a great opportunity. I can't wait to see those photos. Like I said, I know we sent our photographer out last night. Blair, can you give an example of what some of the youth enrichment classes are? I know you mentioned swimming. There's a whole lot going on, right.

Speaker 3: 10:07

What are some of those?

Speaker 1: 10:08

offerings.

Speaker 3: 10:09

Aquatics is a big one simply because of the need in the community and in our area to have strong swimmers or swim experience. Right now we have a youth fencing class that's going on.

Speaker 1: 10:21

Oh fun.

Speaker 3: 10:21

Yeah, and there's been a fair amount of interest in that. Simply, I think each time the Olympics come around that interest increases and so that's a class that we actually offer once or twice a catalog or a season, if you will, because it does have pretty good general interest. So fencing is fun. That's one that we do in partnership with adults. The adult enrichment coordinator and I work together on that one. This one's a youth specific, but we also offer those to the other districts around us, the surrounding areas, for fencing. It sounds so fun. Yeah, yeah, they have a really great time and it's fun to watch and, you know, poke your head in and see them, you know, from the beginning of the week to the end of the week and really understanding the sport, which I think is sort of a mystery to some. We have some great art classes. We've been fortunate to have some new local businesses. We've got a splatter paint class that kids have really enjoyed. We've got some language classes virtual and in-person some music classes. We just have really a lot of different offerings.

Speaker 1: 11:24

Do you know off the top of your head how many classes are offered during the summer?

Speaker 3: 11:28

So it's not off the top of my head because I did.

Speaker 3: 11:32

I did pull that information just because sometimes it feels like it can be, you know, vast. Right now we're looking at 169 sort of general youth enrichment classes and then 168 aquatics specifically running, and typically we were able to partner with another pool in the community but this summer that wasn't possible. So those numbers of aquatics offerings are actually down a little bit. You know, hopefully in the future that'll grow again, but as of right now we're seeing about 1200 unique participants for the summer.

Speaker 1: 12:03

So it's just amazing.

Speaker 3: 12:05

It's a lot, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:07

What a what a valuable asset to our whole community. I'm curious about and either one of you can answer this or both you mentioned, sam, about the creativity of your teacher for that wellness beats, so I'm curious about who are these teachers? Who teaches our classes? Where do they come from?

Speaker 2: 12:27

For Project Challenge specifically, we kind of have two sides. We have a group of community people, many of them potentially retired, who are looking to give back to the community, still work but provide something to give back. And then we also have community partners that work with us. We work very closely with the ARC. This Wellness Beats instructor also does a chair one fitness class and she has her own business and has worked with us. We work very closely with the Paramount and the movie theater and Southway Bowl to help put these activities together abilities, create and develop programs and curriculum to teach our classes. Whether it be dream boards or self-advocacy, we've got a lot of programming speaking to their voices being heard in the community and making change, advocating for changes that they want to see and support they want to see. It really comes from all over, but we do have a ton of support from community organizations reaching out to us saying that they want to be supporting programs that we have going on.

Speaker 1: 13:58

And so that's really specialized Absolutely. And Blair, I mean obviously, I'm assuming with aquatics. You've got licensed people there. What about some of these interests Like what about an art class, for example, or the fencing Sure? How do you get teachers?

Speaker 3: 14:15

Yeah, so it's kind of a mixture, you know, a mixed bag of how we, how these classes come to be. For aquatics specifically, they are district employees. Our instructors and lifeguards are district employees. Our instructors and lifeguards are district employees.

Speaker 1: 14:29

So that's, pretty straightforward.

Speaker 3: 14:30

For our other classes. It varies. We've got high school athletics. Whether it be the athletics or if they're running a youth program.

Speaker 3: 14:39

A lot of times it's our active coaches that will either initiate with me that they're interested in running a class. Many times they're district employees already and so they're running those activities. As far as instructors go for, maybe our art classes either, I am out, you know, researching whether it be other community ed programs, local businesses. Sometimes we're approached. We always have class proposal link on our website for anybody that is interested in offering maybe a really specialized activity. Or you know they're an expert in an area. They can submit that and they can choose, you know, project challenge, adult enrichment or youth enrichment for who they would like to be yeah.

Speaker 3: 15:23

Yeah, and so sometimes it's somebody that crosses and does youth and adult and project challenge, which is always kind of a benefit to us across the board.

Speaker 1: 15:32

So I think you answered one of my questions. So if I have a particular talent, let's say I'm amazing knitter which I'm not, by the way, you could call my daughters. But I'm just using that as an example. So if I had this talent and it's something I would be interested in working with community ed what's the process there? How would I go about letting you all know that I have this interest, that I'm willing to teach?

Speaker 3: 16:01

For us that link online. Otherwise, if you want to connect directly by phone, contacting our department is always an option and then we can. We just talk through sort of the process. You know what it entails, what compensation might look like that sort of thing. Sometimes people want to do things you know and not be paid like all of our high school coaches and that sort of thing for their youth programming. It's all volunteer based For me. They would contact either through the department directly or through instructor proposal. Sam, I don't know if you want to speak to, if yours is different, for Project Challenge.

Speaker 2: 16:33

The process would generally be the same, depending on what you're looking to offer. When we do art classes, group outings, field trips, most of the time we would take you on as a project challenge instructor, which would be a district employee, and then from there you can submit class proposals for things like our fitness classes or our self-advocacy classes those we do contract out.

Speaker 2: 17:04

With the community partners that you mentioned with the community partners, and then that would be that same process that Blair just mentioned. Otherwise, we do go through the district employee avenue, and then that also opens it up. If they would like to participate in any of the other classes we offer, then they also have that opportunity to integrate themselves more into the program in that way.

Speaker 1: 17:29

Yeah. So we just hit 4th of July, which always like makes my stomach roll over just a little bit because I'm like, ah, how is summer halfway through? We've still got offerings, right, people can still sign up this summer, correct?

Speaker 2: 17:44

Yes absolutely.

Speaker 1: 17:45

So, how do we go about doing that if we have an interest in classes?

Speaker 2: 17:50

We do have all of our offerings posted online at our community ed website, which is a wonderful website, very user friendly, very administrator friendly, and we also have our catalogs. Those get sent out three times a year with all of our offerings listed, so you can register.

Speaker 1: 18:07

So it's not too late.

Speaker 2: 18:09

Nope, we do offer programming all year. Our summer programming will go through about the beginning of September or so right before school starts.

Speaker 1: 18:18

Yeah, that's fabulous. And then we'll roll right into fall and, blair, is that true for Youth Enrichment as well? It is.

Speaker 3: 18:23

Yeah, A few of our summer, end of the year, end of the season, classes will roll into the fall and then we run right into fall. We typically try and give families a little settled time into that back to school period but there really is no downtime and classes are open and running. People you know can join and see what's still offered for the remainder of the summer and see what interests them. Our next catalog.

Speaker 3: 18:50

I was just going to say the fall catalog is going to be here before we know it. We're already preparing, you know, getting classes in and planned, so that will go up for registration about mid-August and then the paper copy catalog that goes out to everybody in the community will go out. Typically it's the end of August, so lands and mailboxes you know that first week of September typically.

Speaker 1: 19:09

I want to thank you both again for coming on the show today, because I think that I'm just not sure to what extent people are aware of these rich opportunities and that it goes all through the summer and how to go about it. And I do want to shout that out because you both mentioned going online and you're talking about the school district website, which is the ISD742.org, and then by going to the school district website you hit that community, ed, and it's its own website and you can register for classes, do all of that or, as you said, the instructor proposals. I just want to make sure that because, again, I'm just not sure the extent to which people realize how many opportunities are out there and I remember from when I had school-aged children, knowing that stuff was going on in the summer and getting my kids out In my children's cases it was their nose in books, kids out In my children's cases it was their nose in books, which is great, but all summer long, you know, having those other opportunities and in outdoor the camps are just so fabulous. So thank you again so much and you are so welcome and I don't know if you are aware, but we have this like tradition on CoffeeCast you get a mug.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Thanks, You're so welcome. I'm sorry I don't have the coffee. You do get to take home the mug, Thank you so much.

Speaker 3: 20:40

Yes, thank you for having us.

Speaker 1: 20:42

Really appreciate it. Do you have a great podcast idea? Submit your idea to communications at ISD742.org. And thank you for listening to 742 CoffeeCast, the best place to stay informed and be inspired by St Cloud Area School District.