As the school year comes to an end, Empower Yolo’s After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (ASSETs) team is planning fun, summer programs for local youths through its Kids Day Camp and Freshman Leadership Academy.
Kids Day Camp (serving youths ages 7-12 years)-
This summer, Empower Yolo is offering Kids Day Camp, a free, two-week summer camp through its ASSETs program. The camp is for kids ages 7-12 and is open to anyone in the community of Woodland. “Kids Day Camp is meant to provide a fun, enriching experience to young children where they can make new friends, get mentored by high school student volunteers, and have fun,” says, Daniela Talavera Rangel, Director of Youth Programs, Empower Yolo.
There will be a variety of activities planned for the program this summer including pool days on Fridays, arts and crafts, musical activities, and sports such as kickball and capture the flag. “Our goal is to provide a free summer camp for families that are low-income and are unable to afford child-care; and to provide access for kids coming from rural communities that are too far away to attend other summer camps. We hope to give young children a memorable experience and fun activities to do during the summer,” says Rangel.
Kids Day Camp not only provides fun programming for children, but it also offers a leadership component for teens who help staff the camp. ASSETs staff will be leading this camp with the help of high school student volunteers. “This opportunity for high school students is important because it provides valuable community service, experience working with kids, allows students to grow as leaders, and allows those who are passionate about working with kids to be mentors to young children,” says Rangel.
Parents can register their children for Kids Day Camp by contacting ASSETs at (530) 662-4678 EXT 5422 or scanning the QR code on the flier. There is not a hard deadline for registration, however space is limited; please register as soon as possible if you are interested. Kids Day Camp is free and the only requirement is that participants are children ages 7-12. Snacks will also be provided. The camp will be hosted at Woodland High School, 21 N West Street, Woodland.
Freshman Leadership Academy (serving incoming 9th grade students)-
To serve local teens Empower Yolo’s ASSETs program is also hosting its annual Freshman Leadership Academy (FLA). FLA is a free, five-week summer academy where incoming 9th grade students gain leadership skills, gain knowledge about higher education, and tour different colleges and universities. It is hosted by several organizations that have collaborated to make this academy possible including ASSETs, the UC Davis Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP), and Woodland Joint Unified School District. FLA is open to incoming 9th grade students from Lee Middle School and Douglass Middle School.
This program is beneficial for incoming freshman for many reasons. “Teens should participate because they will gain valuable life skills and knowledge about college,” says Rangel. “Participants will also get to make new friends and develop a community, so that when they start high school in the fall, they are able to lean on each other for support,” adds Rangel.
Students attending FLA will gain leadership and life skills such as self-advocacy, how to form healthy relationships, how to apply for a job (i.e., resume building, filling out an application, mock interviews, etc.), and culinary skills. They will also receive information on college such as how to budget, how to select their majors based on their interests, and how to study according to their learning styles, and more. Students will also be touring different college campuses each week on Wednesdays to get a sense of what being in college is like.
“Our goal is to prepare and motivate students to pursue higher education. Through FLA, they will have an advantage through the skills they will learn and the knowledge they will gain about college. Our hope is to get students thinking about ways they can be leaders in high school in preparation for college. We also hope to provide opportunities for students to become leaders and gain important life skills that they can utilize not only in college, but in their day-to-day lives as well,” says Rengel.
FLA will be taking place at Pioneer High School from June 15-July 14. “We are very excited to welcome a new cohort of incoming freshmen. Current sophomores and juniors from both Pioneer High and Woodland High School will be participating as high school leads where they will gain over 100 community service hours and will gain leadership skills by stepping into this role as mentors,” says Rengel.
The community can support these youth programs by making financial donations to buy raffle prizes and gift cards for the student leads for both FLA and Kids Day Camp. “Our students do tremendous work to keep our programs fun, organized, and successful. Without them, this would not be possible. Our ASSETs team would love to reward them in any way possible because they truly are the core of our programs,” says Rangel. For more information, to register for Kids Day Camp, or to donate towards Empower Yolo’s youth programs any time visit empoweryolo.org.