Iowa Public Television had a one-year “Summer Learning” grant from PBS, which was to be used for a day-long educational mission to one Iowa school district.
When the time to decide where to visit, Stacie Steveson of IPTV Educational Services said the choice was clear.
“It was Perry right from the start,” she said. “Several factors played into the decision, including the number of at-risk youth in the community, but also a big factor was the success we have had working with Perry and with Mary Hillman and PACES in the past. There really wasn’t much doubt that Perry where was we wanted to go.”
Along with Americorps Vista volunteer Mary Christen Szech and intern Marissa Bayse, IPTV’s Trista Peitzman and Shane Straka were also on hand.
The “Summer Safari” was held in two sessions at the Perry Elementary School Thursday, with the morning section devoted to the Perry Summer School students, while PACES students and the public were invited to participate in the afternoon program. Both were aimed at pre-school through grade five students.
Attendees were treated to a variety of educational and fun challenges and games, with PBS Kids a theme throughout. Youngsters found puzzles to put together, word and spelling challenges, a math-learning hopscotch, and science problems involving building a small aluminum foil boat and seeing how many pennies it would support, which paper structure (cone, tube, rectangle, etc) would carry the most weight and many others. A treasure hunt/compass challenge was also included.
Each child was given a gift bag full of fun and educational items, with the Summer School students having a pizza lunch before dismissing. Well over 100 students participated in the event, and if smiles and laughter were any judge, the youngsters clearly thought the day was well-spent.
