lights on after school @ the YMCA newport county (event #1)

For one of my events for YDEV, I had the opportunity to attend the lights on after school event at the YMCA Newport County. This specific event however was located at Aquidneck Elementary School. It was nothing like I expected, but in a good way. Aside from already having the YMCA after school care team in attendance, the YMCA also had a personal trainer come along to teach the kids some exercise techniques. In the gym, she had groups of 8 kids at a time performing various exercises such as burpees, push-ups, jumping jacks and more. It was interesting to see how the kids responded to doing these exercises. Some children thoroughly enjoyed them, while others complained and said they would rather play basketball or soccer.

Downstairs in the cafeteria where the rest of the children are, there are two other women leading activities with the children. This is all part of the lights on after school committee. The women are playing musical chairs with the children, as well as teaching them how to build different shapes with the magnetiles (which are extremely popular nowadays for children, and also good for them because it keeps their brains thinking)

After witnessing all of these activities, we got a visit from DCYF! At this point, I was still fairly new to the YMCA after school program, so I was extremely nervous as to what the lady would ask me. Thankfully, we were in ratio, and I was able to answer all of her questions accurately and truthfully. This was a great experience for me, because not only did I get to experience a visit from a DCYF worker, but I got to work along side the lights on after school committee to ensure that the children had a rewarding and fulfilling experience there.

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