CORE shows students a little work can pay offCORE shows students a little work can pay offJune 25, 2004
In answer to the ever present demand for programs to keep kids off the streets and involved in supervised fun over the summer, the city of Oakley is offering quite a few summer programs for kids of all ages. One of those programs is the Youth C.O.R.E. program.
The idea behind the C.O.R.E. was fashioned after a longtime Pittsburg activity that has been popular with youth in their city, according to Denis Nishihara from the Oakley Parks and Recreation Department, which is sponsoring the program.
"This is going to be a program that will benefit the kids as well as the City Council," Nishihara said.
The idea behind C.O.R.E. is not only to give kids something to do for the summer, but to also teach life skills, Nishihara said. The kids, whose age group will include middle school to high school sophomores, will include working on park cleanup and planting projects and then recreation time.
The kids will start the day at 8:30 a.m. and will work for three hours on the cleanup project. One such activity includes planting flowers at Freedom High School. After planting the students will have a lunch break and will be rewarded for their efforts by four hours of play. Nishihara said that on days they work at planting at Freedom High School they will be able to swim for free for the rest of the day.
The program runs wekdays July 6-16, working only nine days because of the Monday holiday. Each Friday during the program the students will be rewarded with a free trip to Six Flags Marine World and Pier 39, where they will enjoy a supervised day of fun.
"This is really an exciting program," Nishihara said. "We'll be able to teach the kids life skills, like teaching them to fill out an application. They will have to be at work on time. They will have to pack a lunch, and call in if they are not going to be able to attend a day."
Nishihara said that another important part of the job will be to teach the students to have a good attitude about work. "Most middle school kids don't have a good attitude as it is, so the main objective is to show them that work can be fun," he said.
The students will be rewarded for their efforts with the play time afterward. That has been very successful in Pittsburg. Last year I interviewed several students involved in the Pittsburg program for a story I did for the Ledger Dispatch, and the kids loved the idea of meeting new kids and having the chance to have fun with friends.
Several of the kids participated for many years in their C.O.R.E. activities because they had a chance to make different friends and see them year after year. It also gave them something to do during the summer. The Pittsburg program lasts for two months rather than just nine days. Nishihara said that nine days is just a start for the first year and he hopes to be able to add more time to the program next year.
The Pittsburg students, many who are at-risk kids, said that they preferred hanging out with other teens and having something to do rather than having the opportunity to get in trouble. That was pretty impressive coming from the kids themselves.
Nishihara said that so far the Oakley program has 10 kids signed up. He hopes that the pilot program will go over well. He would be happy if he had 20 kids to start the program.
Another thing that Nishihara assures is that the staff for the program is full of cheerful young adults with a good attitude themselves, and he feels that they will make a good mentor group.
All participants in this program and their parents must attend an orientation meeting. For more information contact Nishihara at 925-625-7041.
Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.
Distributed by the Contra Costa Times