Federal grant provides kids, parents with after-school programs

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Using a stuffed great-horned owl and a stuffed bald eagle, Ryder Scott, program director for the Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center, tells dozens of Rumford Elementary School students about owls Thursday at the Western Foothills Kids Association Afterschool Program in Rumford.

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- Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

From right, Rumford Elementary School students Nora Tag, Clarissa Arsenault and her twin sister, Donna Arsenault, Ben Tag, and, in back, Brady Halacy, listen to Ryder Scott's "Creatures of the Night" presentation on Maine owls Thursday.

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- Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Using animated gestures, props and humor, owl ecology instructor Ryder Scott tells Rumford Elementary School students on Thursday that owls prey on skunks for food but have no sense of smell, which protects them from skunks' stinky spray. Scott, the program director for the Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center, brought a stuffed owl and bald eagle with him to the first Western Foothills Kids Association Afterschool Program.

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- Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

RUMFORD — Using a PowerPoint presentation, stuffed owls and a stuffed bald eagle, Ryder Scott talked about raptor ecology to 50 Rumford Elementary School students and parents during Thursday's after-school program.

The Bryant Pond 4-H Camp and Learning Center program director's presentation and a simultaneous one on bats at Meroby Elementary School were offered as part of a national awareness campaign for after-school programs.

The Western Foothills Kids Association Afterschool Program presentations were the first of their kind at the two schools. They are funded by a five-year federal education grant administered through the Western Foothills School District, said Allie Burke, the association's program director. 

Burke smiled as Scott placed the stuffed eagle on the floor to tell the children about raptors. Every child immediately and excitedly scooted forward on the floor to surround Scott and the eagle.

He proceeded to tell the children about animals that hunt during the night, at dawn and dusk, and during daytime, and quickly got into owls. Using comical and animated gestures, he taught them that owls have no sense of smell, which enables them to efficiently hunt and kill skunks for food and not mind the eyes-watering, stinky spray.

Burke snapped photographs, as did some parents.

"This is the first big event since we started and we have over 200 kids involved," Burke said. "It's very popular. We even have a waiting list at (Rumford Elementary School) because they're maxed out at 50 students. The after-school program is in its first year of a three-year, $300,000 grant, she said.

"Over the course of the year, the grant wants us to serve 300 to 400 students," she said. "This is our fourth week of programs, and we need more volunteers to be in the program, because we wish we could take as many students as we could get."

 Goals of the 21st Century grant and after-school program are to draw parents into the children's events and allow the school district to better connect with its communities, Burke said.

Part of the grant supports students in academics, which the association provides by offering daily tutoring.

The grant also provides fitness and health programs offered through the Mexico Recreation Center and the Greater Rumford Community Center.

In addition to seeking volunteers to help with the after-school program, the association is looking for volunteers to help with activities for the children.

"It's exciting," Burke said. "We got a late start, but things are going really well for us."

To volunteer or for more information, contact Burke at 357-6987 or Colleen Calden at 562-7254, ext. 8233. For more information about the Bryant Pond program, visit www.umext.maine.edu/bryantpond.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com