Local Latino youths experience summer camp
For four weeks this summer, 45 Latino youngsters attended art and dance classes; participated in sports activities including lacrosse, swimming and wrestling; experimented with digital design; and learned about World War II.
Thanks to La Esperanza’s focus on helping Latino youth integrate into American culture, the youngsters joined about 50 other middle school students at Camp Tyler, a summer day camp held at Sussex Academy in Georgetown.
“We’re growing as a youth program and building leadership,” said Sara Shultz, programs director for La Esperanza, a nonprofit organization in Georgetown that helps immigrants adapt to their new country and travel the road to citizenship. “We also are responding to the traditional summer learning loss that occurs when kids are out of school, and making the experience fun for them at the same time.”
La Esperanza has an active, year-round youth program through which Latino elementary, middle and high school students participate in after-school programs, field trips and career education. They learn leadership and coping skills which help develop self-esteem.
La Esperanza has partnerships with several organizations including the Georgetown Boys & Girls Club and Sussex Central High School, where students participate in the life-skills training program Botvin, launched in eight schools by Delaware Public Health to prevent addiction, promote positive decision-making and reduce violence.
“Our goal is to expose them to as much as possible,” said Schultz. Field trips to dinner shows and the state fair have been on the agenda. Latino students have helped out at the SPCA, and have voiced an interest to visiting Washington, D.C.
Because so many of the Latino parents work full time, La Esperanza also saw the need for summer enrichment programs.
In 2017, when Summer Learning Cooperative looked at having a pilot camp in Sussex, La Esperanza took on the responsibility of getting Latino children involved. It also agreed to transport the children to camp and back home again. La Esperanza has a strong bond with the Latino community where it offers crucial community services, including immigration advice and information, and financial and family counseling. La Esperanza staff spoke to parents about the advantages of day camp, a concept foreign to most of them. In 2017, 15 Latino children were among the 60 children who attended the pilot camp.
Camp Tyler Director Chelsea Hauler says the camp’s educational component reflects Delaware’s middle school curriculum. The camp also focuses on the core values of being a good person, such as honesty and kindness, along with having fun. Outdoor activities are part of the curriculum.
The 2017 pilot program was so successful that Camp Tyler returned this year with nearly 100 campers, 45 of whom were Latino. “We are excited to be offering this amazing opportunity to our local Latino youth,” said Rosalia Velazquez, La Esperanza executive director. “For many of our kids, this is their first time ever at a summer camp.”
Ann Weisgerber, youth program assistant with La Esperanza, said she enjoyed working with the children, who have so much energy and enthusiasm. She accompanied the Latino youngsters while they were at the camp.“They are having so much fun and do not realize they are learning at the same time,” said Weisgerber.
La Esperanza was founded in 1996 by three Carmelite Sisters of Charity, local leaders Sister Maria Mairlot, Sister Rosa Alvarez and Sister Ascencion Banegas, to help Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants. Although the sisters retired last year, an active board and eight dedicated staff members – as well as friends and volunteers from throughout Delaware – continue their work. Today, the organization assists all immigrants who ask for help across the Delmarva Peninsula.
