The Municipal District of St. Stephen has stepped up to help some students from the local middle school who lost the after-school program.
Aaron Muzzatti, the aquatics and programming coordinator at the Garcelon Civic Center, said he’d been thinking about for it a while. However, it had to be put on the back burner to pursue some bigger programs for the aquatics centre.
“When we heard that the middle school in town had cancelled the after-school program, we thought it might be a good time to give it a test run,” he said.
The program is free to the students and is focused on engaging those who participate as opposed to more formal instruction, he explained.
Watch: The Municipal District of St. Stephen Regular Council Meeting
“While they’re here, they might play volleyball, they’ll play in the kayaks that we have, they’ll do races, mannequin carries, tows, basketball… all kinds of fun stuff,” Muzzatti said in an interview with The Courier.
The program, set up by the Municipal District of St. Stephen, filled up quickly according to the aquatics and programming coordinator. (Patrick Watt/CHCO-TV)
He said he felt strongly about students having some structured environment in an after-school setting.
“We want to try and engage with that age group a little bit more,” he said. “Typically, middle school is an age group that we see fall off a lot so we want to try and up that engagement and try and keep more swimmers in the water.”
Muzzatti said the program filled up quickly, with about half a dozen kids showing up every week. He said there was a waitlist, but kids who regularly didn’t come could be shuffled to allow new kids who were waiting to participate.
“I think it is really important for us as far as outreach is concerned,” he said. “You know for the municipality to give back to the individuals who live within it and to help get kids in our community active.”
Anyone who wants to participate in the program can apply online or in-person at the Garcelon Civic Center – with Muzzatti confirming there are a few spots open for the winter session.
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