MONTE VISTA— Kids Connection had a very fun and, at times, crazy summer, Director Anika Velasquez reported to Monte Vista City Council when they met Thursday, Sept. 5.

Their bus had some issues, and so unfortunately, they were not able to go on all the fun road trips they had planned for the summer. Instead they had to get creative to keep the children busy and entertained. “It was a huge challenge,” said Velasquez. “It kept us really busy— constantly having to go to plan B to keep them busy.”

The children especially wanted to do stuff with water during the hot months, but since they weren’t able to take them to water they had to substitute popsicles. “Popsicles made it better.,” said Velasquez.
Attendance in the summer program was very high this year with 145 students enrolling. Of those, 48 were brand new students to the program. Many of the children were five to seven years old. On average they had a daily attendance of around 70 children. On the first Thursday of summer they had about 87 children show up, and on the last day of their summer program they had 63 children come to enjoy the fun before school. Kids Connection staff were surprised by this year’s high enrollment and attendance levels. Usually the attendance fluctuates with high attendance days and very low attendance days. But every day this summer they had around 70 kids attending.

Their after-school program kicked off on Aug. 14, and they’ve already had 28 new students enroll in this special program. Kids Connection’s numbers have been much higher than they’ve seen in the last seven years of the program. Velasquez believes they’ll have at least 300 children in attendance this year. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to meet those goals,” she said.

They have been trying to stay in communication with the schools as the semester begins— letting them know of any hiccups they have with the playground or troubles the kids may be having. This way the school is aware of it the next day when the children are at school. The school has also done a good job of communicating with Kids Connection if the kids are having problems, especially when it comes to homework, which Kids Connection helps them with.