The age of the students who fill our hallways this summer has never been younger. More than 300 Rochester city school students, ages 6 to 13, are on campus for the new Be A Healthy Hero Summer Camp, and they join students who come to MCC each summer for a growing portfolio of camps and enrichment programs, including Horizons, College for Kids, and the Leadership Camp.
The Be A Healthy Hero camp results from a fantastic and innovative collaboration among RCSD, MCC and the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, which is supporting the program with a $597,000 grant (one of the largest it has ever awarded). Both the City of Rochester and Monroe County are also engaged in and supportive of the new camp. Thanks for the vision and direction of this program go to Professor Liz Kelly and East High School Teacher and Coach Lisa Turchetti. Working with the MCC Foundation and the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, they created a six-week camp that will help reduce summer learning loss and motivate students to live healthy lifestyles.
Bringing these students onto MCC's campus also provides us with an early opportunity to begin sharing all that our College has to offer. The camp makes great use of our outstanding facilities over the summer and provides a chance for families to discover MCC. Be A Healthy Hero also employs participants in the City/County Summer of Opportunity and MCC students as camp staffers, creating much needed jobs for local youth over the summer.
Monday, I had the chance to meet several of the campers and their parents: each has a powerful story about how this summer is making a true difference in their lives. Several of the students shared poems written as part of their experience. Tai Asia’s poem, “This Ordinary World,” is a remarkable reminder of just how time spent at our college can inspire even the youngest Tribunes:
Ordinary World
By Jai' Asia J., age 11
Everything is different
in this small ordinary world
everything is different
even the small boys and girls
Things have lost color
foods aren’t so tasty
many fights and riots
please don’t be hasty
Everything is changing
things aren’t that fun
everything is fading
where’s the joy in everyone
Sometimes I sit and wonder
where this world has gone
but this world won’t be so boring
no, not after long
People need a push
they need determination
maybe we can make a change
we’ll be the inspiration.
Thank you Liz, Lisa, and all the heroes whose determination and leadership are making this summer special for well over 300 Rochester children!
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Anne M. Kress President's Office 07/16/2014 |