By Thomas Sellers Jr.
If some of the Millington or E.A. Harrold Elementary teachers give he writing assignment, “What I did on my summer vacation,” area children like Iyonna White and Carlos Rodriguez might reminisce about their week at Baker Community Center. White and Rodriguez were a part of the City of Millington’s 2016 Kids Camp held at the Baker Community Center in July. Under the guidance of Millington Arts and Recreation’s Logan McCormick and Jasmine Robertson, the children participated in five days of indoor and outdoor activities. “This is the first time it’s really been put on with the city,” programs director McCormick said. “The Y does a camp each year. Since I came here in January I thought, ‘Let’s do a camp with the city.’ This is the first time and it started Monday which was the 18th and goes until Friday the 22nd.” The Kid Camp started at 9 a.m. each day and concluded about 5 p.m. Several activities were planned from free-play time to organized sports like soccer and basketball. Indoors the children painted and received a visit from a State Ranger showcasing some exotic birds. Tuesday featured roller skating and painting with Millington Arts Council member Lori Campbell. “For a lot of them it was their first or second time roller skating,” McCormick said. “We had to help them quite a bit with that. It was a lot of fun.” The first-time fun continued when Campbell showed up with blank canvas and tubes of paints. “Members of the Millington Arts Council have come out and they’ve helped us by bringing all the supplies,” McCormick said. “They’ve sponsored everything to help us put this on currently. We greatly appreciate it. “They have taken their expertise to help us as well,” he added. “So it’s not only purchasing the materials but it’s giving of their knowledge as well.” Campbell brought in a couple of pieces of her completed work to show the children. Then she went into “teacher mode” giving the children a chance to paint their own masterpieces. The youth grabbed some blue tape and ripped pieces to place on the white canvas. Once the tape was in place, it was time for the children to direct their brushes into their four selected colors of paint. The boys and girls applied the paints into the available areas to create some abstract pieces. As the paint dried, McCormick and Robertson took the children back outside for more fun. “We’ve got seven right now. I would like for it to grow in numbers. But I do like that it’s a small, tight knit group right now to start off with. That way we can make sure we do everything correctly. Next year we know what we need to bring with it. I would like to see us have to move to a bigger room.”
For more information about Millington Arts and Recreation, call 873-5770.
