The city of Sedona’s new afterschool program runs Monday through Thursday through the end of September.
Josh Frewin, Sedona’s Parks & Recreation director, said the cost of most of the programs, which are aimed at kids kindergarten through fifth grade, is no more than $15 a day per program. Registration is through the Sedona Parks & Rec website.
“We wanted kids to be able to choose one day to go but they don’t have to commit for the month,” he said.
The first eight weeks are a pilot program to see where unforeseenissues might be and to see where the demand is.
Programs will be held at various locations within Posse Grounds Park located at 525 Posse Grounds Road.
“We [will] run it as a pilot program to see what classes work, where there’s great attendance and where there might not be classes working,” he said. “Regardless, we’ll mix it up during the year, we’re not going to keep the same four classes.”
The activities might turn more athletic, like basketball in the winter or shift as more instructors become available.
This fall, Mondays are arts and crafts days with Sacred Eagle Art, Tuesdays are lacrosse with Verde Valley Vortex — not to be confused with the Verde Valley Science Vortex, which is organizing STEAM days on Wednesdays. Thursday classes are kids yoga with Sedona Sol Yoga.
“The programs provide local children in grades K-5 with engaging, instructor-led enrichment opportunities that help kids learn new skills and stay active after the school day ends,” the city stated in a press release.
Laurie Altinger, CEO of the Science Vortex in Cottonwood, said she wanted the program to emphasize fun and to not “feel like school.”
She said she trained Zoe Tiffany, a recent graduate from the education program at Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education, to run the course.
“The first week is rockets, … Alka-Seltzer and ballroom rockets, and then week two is light and rainbows, so they’re going to be making Newton’s discs,” Altringer said.
Those are fans with rainbow colors painted on the blades and, when spun fast enough, combine to look white.
Week three is a hoot — making owl art, dissecting owl pellets, listening to an owl read aloud. Week four is making complex human body models.
“It will be an interactive body, in a sense that when they breathe into the straws, they’ll see two bags inflate and they’ll have an esophagus that will lead to the stomach so they can put candy down it. They’ll actually see the length of human intestines.”
Week five is Rube Goldberg machines, week six is artistic challenges focused on symmetry, week seven is sound — like making paper cup telephones — and week eight is engineering challenges including an egg drop.
Other classes have less specific plans, but still know how to keep the children entertained.
The Sacred Eagle Arts and Crafts days are organized by Maria Bowers, who said most of her programs are “nature inspired.”
“Three-dimensional and mixed-media kind of art, like mod podge or papier mâché, sculptures, some paintings,” She said. “We made some dragon hand puppets[for the first week]. And for this coming Monday, we’re going to learn a little bit about our rattlesnakes in Arizona, and we’re going to make a snake with paper rolls.”
“We use multi-purpose objects” for different projects,” Bowers said. “We play some games and they get a chance to possibly play outside on the playground if we’re done in time.”
Frewin said as the program progresses, people who are interested in teaching can apply through a survey on the Parks & Rec website.
“If you have great skateboarding skills and you want to put together a ‘kids learn to skateboard’ class, we have an instructor proposal out there that people can fill out,” Frewin said.
There’s some things kinks to work out with the schools moving forward, like transportation from the school to the rec room.
The lacrosse program is a bit different.
While kids can join any time, it is run by the Verde Valley’s new section of Northern Arizona Youth Lacrosse, the regional branch for USA Lacrosse.
The USA Lacrosse membership, which is required to participate in the Verde Valley Vortex league, is $35, and the season fee is an additional $40, which Shannon Roberts, the league’s organizer, said she’s happy to prorate depending on when someone joins.
“Because the registration is a factor, we do have scholarship options as well,” Roberts said. “So, if money or like the price is the current for anyone, we will do whatever we can to make it work.”
As of Week 1 of the program, there were 15 kids who had signed up to play and a few who came to the first day to check it out.
The program will also host games against the Prescott and Flagstaff teams on Sunday, Sept. 27.
“Anyone that’s maybe who has played before or who is interested in getting back into coaching or playing, we would love to talk to them and have them come out and, you know, have them get involved.”
Contact the league at northernarizonayouthlacrosse@gmail.com.
For more information, to view the complete schedule or register online, go to sedonaaz.gov/afterschool or call the Parks and Recreation Department at 928-282-7098.
