Youth learn to challenge their brains

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

SAN FIDEL — “It’s fun to challenge your brain during summer,” 11-year-old Holly Peterson said.
Holly is a cast member in a special play next week,

“Vacation on Mars,” which will be presented by the 31 pupils of the “Save the Children” program at St. Joseph’s Elementary School in San Fidel.

“I like going to the summer program, I learn a lot,” she said. “Your brain goes blank during summer, between school, and it’s fun to go to the summer program and learn.”

The play is the culmination of a five-week summer program at the school, which has centered on researching and learning about our solar system.

Literacy Coordinator Jeanette Garcia said the summer program began June 16 and operates from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday each week.

This summer the pupils researched on the Internet about the various planets and the sun in the solar system, then created a planet using various materials, she said.

The planets and the sun will be hanging from the ceiling above the stage at the school’s cafeteria while the pupils perform. Admission is free, and fresh fruit and cold bottled water will be served after the play, Garcia said.

Holly said she used a balloon and put papier-mâché on it, then painted it to look like Mars.

“I made the surface bumpy on purpose, to look like mountains,” she said.

The play is a humorous look at an earthbound family that is able to use a teleportion device to go from one planet to the other, seeking a vacation on Mars.

“The way the family never reaches its vacation destination is really funny,” Holly said.

Jacob Aragon, 10, of Seboyeta, said he has attended the summer program for three years.

“I made the sun. I used a foam ball and painted it orange and yellow,” he said. Jacob plays a tour guide that brings the family to the planets in the solar system.

“We learned a lot about the planets, the sun, the whole solar system this summer,” he said. “I like coming to the program because I like to learn a lot,” he said.

Garcia said parents, relatives and the public are all invited to the play.

The New Mexico chapter of “Save the Children” runs a year-round program, after school during the academic year and a summer program between school years.

The program provides an hour for reading, 30 minutes reading out loud, developing pronunciation and fluency and 30 minutes reading quietly, Garcia said.

Pupils participating are preschool through eighth-grade.
There are 38 “Save the Children” programs in five states, including Arizona and New Mexico. In the Gallup area, two schools in the Zuni School District, Ashwiwi and Doya Yalanne elementary schools; and Crownpoint Elementary’ Crownpoint Community and Crownpoint Middle schools all have the after school program

St. Joseph’s is the only Catholic school that offers the program in Cibola County. Cubero Elementary, Laguna Elementary and Laguna-Acoma Middle schools also have the program.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 285-4560 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com