Stoke Kids Rock
Author: John Hahn, STOKE
Stoke Kids Rock
John Hahn
STOKE
First, tickets are now on sale for our annual Valentine’s Day Dinner Fundraiser, on February 14th in The Lodge. (See the flyer in this week’s paper). We are still working out the details, but we will be proudly showcasing presentations from the STOKE kids on their projects, serving a catered, full-course New York beef roast dinner, a cuisine fit for Valentine’s Day, holding a silent and live auction, and other fun events.
Last year was another banner year for our STOKE kids with our programs expanding with new vitality and content. We hired Liz Wishman as our DC (Development Coordinator) who hit the ground running, giving our programs cohesion while researching much needed grants. She’s made many good contacts and continues to enhance our board with her skills, experience, and enthusiasm.
One program that has produced some astonishing results is our robotics program. We now have two FIRST Lego League teams and a more rounded FIRST Tech Challenge team. The coaches (Spencer Sellay, Dr. Lisa Brown, Roger Flynn, Adam Six, Bobbie McCauley, and BHS Senior Max Sellay) are really excited, as are the kids, to compete statewide. The teams recently toured the Boeing plant in Helena, showing them an avenue for employment after graduation. These high-tech jobs are really in demand and the skills the kids are learning in STOKE should really improve their employment possibilities. Check out the article on their Helena competition this weekend. Three trophies!
Board member, Scott Gossard, stepped up and volunteered to instruct and keep herd on the Lego Tech classes we had this fall (3rd – 5th grade). This robotics class replaced the Snapology program we ran for a couple of years. The operator of Snapology gave up the franchise so we went off on our own to manage the newly named Lego Tech program. We are in the process of upgrading the kits and equipment and hope to run another session or two before the end of the school year.
We now have a “Ski Club” with several youth participating this year. This started last year with a few kids joining but we now have close to twenty kids and several volunteers to move this club along. The Showdown MT Ski area people have really been generous to us, especially Hannah Patrick, sponsoring several youths with full ski packages. This year we are adding a view into the different parts of ski hill operations, showing the kids what their employment could look like there. Our club plans on doing trips every other Friday and Sunday to the ski hill until the end of the ski season.
Pottery has been progressing well with Teddy Lewis instructing both our STOKE kids, adults, and some after-school kids signed up through the 21st-century afterschool program. We are partnering with the school on this program for the benefit of the students. The high school arts and ceramics classes have made some unique and interesting wall pieces that adorn the wall behind the kilns, jazzing up the white wall space. We appreciate the work these kids and instructor Jeremy Bartlett have done for us. This is another example of the partnership we have with the school. The pottery kids also participated in The Christmas Stroll, showcasing some of the great work they had done. We are hoping to complete our extensive equipment list with a pug mill which will save us money by reclaiming the discarded clay. The cost is $6732 so we are looking for funds to purchase this.
Laura Frazier retired from our Sewing Sisters Club, but we were able to find Jeanne Mainwaring to instruct and mentor the young seamstresses for a 6-week stint last year. Jeanne is very talented and is guiding the class through different avenues of crafting. We were also fortunate to find another space for this in the United Methodist church. Thank you to the Methodist people, especially Evelyn Alley, for allowing us to utilize this space.
The cooking class has started again in the commercial kitchen in The Lodge. The kids love this class and have been repeat apprentices over the years. Our instructors for this class are Rachael Alexander and Simone Dominguez, both talented cooks and chefs themselves. This class has just started another session.
We are hoping to offer our “Fly-Tying” class, Chris Christensen instructing, again this year and start a photojournalism-media class too. If you or your kids have an interest in any program not currently offered, we would be willing to explore that request.
Don’t forget to check in often on our website at stokemt.org. We have an amazing video the kids produced with the guidance of the MAPS Media Institute that you can check out. The website also contains the signup sheets for our current programs and can be submitted online.
