The Wayne County Community Learning Centers sponsored several different events to celebrate Lights on Afterschool. Playmates Child Development of Kenova had an event called "From Around the World...To Kenova". They chose this theme to expose the children in their Afterschool program to different cultures. The countries that were represented were Germany, Mexico, Chili, Italy, Holland, Egypt, and Vietnam. They had guest speakers that represented each country and who brought in artifacts from these countries that included clothing, art, jewelry, figurines, music, videos, and books. The speakers also exposed the children to food from their culture and also their language. They had a pasta bar for "A taste of Italy", Chips and Salsa (Mexico and Chili), hummos, flat bread, halawa, candied chick peas, and couscous (Egypt), Rice and vegetables (Vietnam) and Brauts and Krout (Germany). There were 52 students, 2 community volunteers, 6 parent volunteers and 6 staff. We had several local newspapers which attended as well as the local news station. It was a great event and everyone had a wonderful time. Playmates Child Development of Lavalette sponsored an event at their center to expose the children in their program to different Occupations. They had three speakers come in and talk with their children, a scientist, a veterinarian, and a motor cross driver. The scientist spoke with the children about what she did on a daily basis and she did a couple small experiments with them as well. The veterinarian spoke to them about helping animals and all the different types of animals she works with. She also brought in bags with coloring books that were of animals. The motor cross driver brought in his bike that he used in the races and let the students see it. He talked to them about all the practicing that it took to be successful and how he got started. The staff had talked with their students prior to this event and gotten ideas from them on the types of an occupation they were interested in and that is how they chose those three. There were 31 students, 10 parent volunteers and 4 staff. Everyone had a great time. Playmates Child Development of Huntington focused on literacy events for their Celebration. They had several stations set up with different types of books at each station. One station was set up with multicultural books and a volunteer that brought in tribal masks and instruments for the children to see and use. The next station had books about the Olympics and sports related topics. At this station they did different types races and all the children won a medal. Huntington also had an "All about me" station where the students made books about themselves, telling their likes and dislikes, favorite foods, favorite color, pets, best friends, etc. and they also received pins that said "I'm special". At the last table they had it set up with some of the student's favorite stories along with some prop boxes and the children told the stories along with using the props. There were 44 students, 2 parent volunteers and 4 staff. The event was enjoyed by all. The other two community education sites did host events involving community leaders, businesses, americorps memebers and parent volunteers. Overall, the WCCLC served over 200 students, had 20 parent volunteers and several americorps members participate throughout our different celebrations. The local media, both newspaper and the news, covered several of our events bringing the community's attention to Lights on Afterschool and the importance of Afterschool programs.

We are planning some new creative after school music programs for Lights On After School. For more information visit my special music web site. www.BobBarboza.com. We are working on special projects to promote spoken word and jazz for students in grades 3 through 12. We want to do what we can to keep American Jazz alive in our schools.