The DREAM Program, The Blue Wagon, August, 2013 by The DREAM Program

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

The Blue Wagon Alumni Newsletter - August 2013

Inside This Issue (Feel free to click links to jump directly down to each sections b elow.)

A Note From The Editor Announcements UVM - Elm St. & Franklin St. Wrap Up Summer https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1114409636877&format=html&print=true

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Windsor Welcomes 10 New Mentees to Union Square DREAM Orchard Gardens' Summer of Sailing & Swimming Summer Highlights @ Northwood & Hollow Drive Summer Highlights @ Somerville & Putnam Gardens Summer Highlights @ Pine Meadow & John Graham Court Summer Highlights @ Birchwood & Riverside

A Note From the Editor Hi there my fellow DREAMers! We're trying something new this month with the format & delivery of The Blue Wagon. As you all hopefully already know, The Blue Wagon is DREAM's Alumni newsletter, written by Alumni and for Alumni. As such, we'd love to get your feedback and ideas to help improve it going forward, so please consider taking less than 2 minutes out of your day to answer the quick survey below. Plus, we'll be raffling off a free DREAM tee to one lucky respondent! Must respond by August 25th to be eligible. http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e810zomihkituhg3/start In the rest of this month's issue of The Blue Wagon, you'll find exciting summer programming highlights from all of the great work DREAM's community interns have been doing across Vermont and Massachusetts. It has without a doubt been another exhilarating DREAM summer, and with fall just around the corner, it's almost time to kick off the new school year! Enjoy the updates and please do take the survey above, and/or always feel free to send comments my way by email. Keep DREAMin' Brian Bensch The Blue Wagon Editor bbensch@gmail.com

Announcements 1. The Alumni Organization would like to congratulate Mariah Andrade as the most recent recipient of a $1,000 Alumni Scholarship award to help further her journey towards a Bachelor's degree in Social Work at Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina. Mariah is a former mentee from Northwoods and will be starting her sophomore year in just a few weeks. Congratulations Mariah, we look forward to hearing more about your future accomplishments! 2. The Alumni Council is actively seeking a new member to assume the role of Constitution Keeper. The Constitution Keeper is a voting member of the council responsible for ensuring that the Council upholds the Alumni Organization Constitution, and is expected to join the Council's monthly conference call. If interested, please reach out to Adam at adam.k.goldfarb@gmail.com. 3. If you didn't receive this email directly, your contact info is likely out of date. You can update your info at: http://dreamprogram.org/alumni/update-your-contact-information. 4. Safia Haji and Francine Bahati, both DREAM mentee interns had the exciting opportunity to be interviewed about their experiences with DREAM on Vermont's Channel 17 alongside Executive Director Mike Loner and Camp Director Ashleigh Ellsworth-Keller. To see the full interview, check out: http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/dream-program-0. https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1114409636877&format=html&print=true

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

Elm & Franklin St. Programs Wrap Up a Great Summer It's hard to believe how fast the summer has gone by. The Elm Street and Franklin Street interns can remember back to the middle of June when they were faced with a whole summer to fill with engaging, enlightening, and fun activities for two communities full of eager children. It was daunting! But, Gabby Fisher, Andrea Fishman, Hannah Faesy, and Mel Schwed got the hang of it quickly. And now, with the end of the summer barbeque approaching in a matter of days, the four interns are confused about where all of that daunting time has gone. For Gabby, Andrea, and Hannah, DREAM is a familiar part of their lives. These three interns all volunteer as mentors with the Elm Street community during the school year. Mel joined DREAM for the first time this summer, coming from a history of working in other mentoring groups with of a variety of ages. Together, these women have planned and executed quite a spectacular summer. Things in Winooski began slowly. The first week of the summer was filled with in-community activities, in an attempt to gain the interest and participation of the most children as possible. The kids were promised one swimming trip a week (usually to the pool), one day a week spent working in the community garden plot, and one teen-only program each week. Remarkably, all of these promises were met as the summer wore on. The first big success of the summer was a teen trip to a concert in Battery Park in Burlington, as part of the Battery Street Concert Series. Three teen girls and one teen boy experienced their first live concert ever given by a 13-year old pop star, Jaida Grace. One teen even won the opportunity to go backstage to meet her! It was the topic of conversation for the rest of the week.

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

Many of the youth were able to experience something new this summer, whether it was a huge landmark or a quiet success. Five boys from the Elm Street community had the opportunity to try sailing for the first time at the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center. Despite their initial panic at being in a sailboat for the first time, all of them took a turn helping to navigate the boat through Lake Champlain, and stepped onto the dock at then end of the afternoon with big smiles on their faces. In a smaller success story, our community garden plot flourished with our weekly watering and weeding fieldtrips. By the end of the summer many children were able to recognize and name all of the plants and had tried at least one new vegetable from the garden. One boy exclaimed how much he liked "THESE" peas, his mom's "weren't anywhere near as good!" This inclusion of nutrition, environmentalism, and the local food movement were a continuing project for Elm and Franklin Street this summer, and the positive results are obvious in many of the children. The biggest participation from both the communities was for an in-community Basketball Tournament. Teams of two battled for the coveted title. It was hard not to root for the team made up of a 15 year-old basketball star and his 9-year-old sister in the final round, but two teen boys beat them in a close game. The next week, a group of DREAMers travelled to the Lake Monsters baseball game. This was an example of the most respectful, polite, and positive behavior the group showed all summer. They didn't even mind leaving early to get one mentee home in time for his curfew. Being featured on the scoreboard screen definitely made up for it. As the summer comes to a close, the Elm and Franklin Street communities are proving to be as busy as ever. This week began with a trip to the Shelburne Farms' Children's Barnyard, where laughing children in DREAMshirts chased chickens and goats around the field. They will be culminating the summer with trips to Pizza Putt, the Addison County Fair and Field Days' Demolition Derby, and Digger's Mirth Collective Farm. The end of the week will finish with a large barbeque at Elm Street, where all of the kids, their families, and community members are welcome to participate. Even though the summer is coming to a close, all of the interns have started to count down the days until school year DREAM activities start up again and are looking forward to hearing the great stories the kids will have to share with their mentors. Back to Top

Windsor / Union Square Welcomes 10 New Mentees Summer DREAM has been a very successful time for the Windsor/Union Square community. Inclusive summer programming has made it possible to significantly strengthen our partnership with Stewart Property Management, allowing us to invite ten new mentees from Union Square and Windsor Village into The DREAMProgram. Dartmouth College mentors and Summer Community Intern, Cody Cushing, have been unbelievably excited to welcome more amazing youth into our DREAM community. Mentors are looking forward to continuing this partnership and developing strong bonds with the new youth. The new mentees are incredibly fun and enthusiastic and have spent their time with DREAM swimming, baking, playing soccer, and getting to know their new mentors. Throughout the summer, mentees from Windsor have spent their time swimming at Lake Pinneo in Quechee, visiting the skate park, and watching the Wednesday night concerts on the town green. Youth have also had https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1114409636877&format=html&print=true

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

the opportunity to go bowling, see a performance by Circus Smirkus, and sail on Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT. The sailing trip was a particularly exciting event that allowed mentees to push the limits of their comfort zones by braving large waves and deep water. They also learned fun new skills, like how to operate the sails and steer the boat. A big thank you goes to the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center for supporting DREAM with a scholarship this summer. With summer coming to a close, the Windsor mentees have many fond memories to look back on and mentoring pairs are looking forward to creating even more new memories in the fall!

Orchard Gardens' Summer of Sailing & Swimming Orchard Gardens Summer DREAM has been a fantastic experience. The Summer Community Intern for Orchard Gardens is Patrick Mathon. He has enjoyed planning and facilitating programs for the youth as a summer in Boston has many offerings. Orchard Gardens Summer DREAM kicked off their summer with a week of outdoor games, activities, and plenty of popsicles! They have also spent a couple of beautiful days at the Boston Commons cooling off in the Frog Pond, and just recently viewed Monsters University at the Boston Commons movie theatre. The youth have enjoyed field trips to the New England Aquarium, the Museum of Science, and the Franklin Park Zoo. A new addition for this summer is increased opportunities for youth to be out on the water and learn about aquatic life. A group of summer DREAM participants spent an evening sailing on the harbor and were able to help the crew sail the ship! DREAM also had the ability to go canoeing in Clinton, MA through the Appalachian Mountain Club's Youth Opportunities Program. Despite the torrential downpour that soaked all participants, everybody had an incredible time and an even better attitude! The youth have also had several opportunities to visit George's Island to explore an old fort, eat on the water, and go swimming. Although summer is wrapping up, there are still many great activities planned. Orchard Gardens https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1114409636877&format=html&print=true

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

SummerDREAM will finish up with National Night Out (a communitywide summer celebration), a trip to the Symphony Orchestra (a DREAM benefactor!), and a culminating party with pizza, ice cream, and tie dyeing. Orchard Gardens Summer DREAM has been fun-filled and the kids look forward to beginning school-year Orchard Gardens DREAM in the coming weeks! Back to Top

Northwoods Summer Spotlight Summer DREAM at Northwoods and Dartmouth College is in full swing. Since the kickoff ice cream social on June 25th, the Northwoods mentees have enjoyed a variety of programming events with community intern Cody Cushing. Cody has been a DREAM mentor for three years with the town of Windsor/Union Square Local Program. He is a senior Biology major at Dartmouth College, and hopes to study medicine after graduation.DREAM has been an incredibly important part of his collegiate experience; Cody is really excited to have the opportunity to expand his involvement by getting to know kids from all of the three neighborhoods paired with Dartmouth DREAM. Some of the highlights include swimming at Lake Pinneo, playing at the park, and visiting the Montshire Museum of Science. The Montshire Museum was a particularly enjoyable and educational trip. The mentees were able to learn about strobe lights, weather patterns, ancient reptiles and insects during the visit. One of the kids' favorite displays was a bike that captures energy, which can be used to lift the elevator up to the second floor. In addition, they were able to spend some time visiting the outdoor water exhibit, which explores various properties of water including pressure, evaporation, and buoyancy.

Northwoods DREAMers explore the Connecticut River.

Future events for Northwoods are going to focus on fun, healthy summer activities. Everyone is very much looking forward to more sunny days that will allow us to spend time swimming at the lake and hiking several of the many trails around White River Junction and Hanover. In the coming weeks we are looking forward to visiting the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, going bowling, and making a day trip to Burlington, VT. In addition to activities led by Cody during the week, Dartmouth DREAM's three Local Programs chapter are active over the summer, providing all mentees in the community with regular DREAM Friday activities. Youth are matched with Dartmouth College sophomores who help to provide structured activities that are new and https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1114409636877&format=html&print=true

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

exciting in a time where many DREAM youth have fewer things to occupy their time.

Hollow Drive Summer Spotlight Hollow Drive mentees have enjoyed new, exciting programming this summer with Community Intern Cody Cushing from DREAM at Dartmouth College. Cody has been very excited to spend time with this community throughout the summer and is looking forward to continuing to develop strong bonds with the community. Hollow Drive mentees bring enthusiasm and excitement to every DREAM activity and are always ready to have a good time. In the past few weeks Hollow Drive mentees have been doing very exciting activities. Some of the most popular activities have been swimming at Lake Pinneo, visiting Frost Park, and playing games. Recently, the mentees had the opportunity to see a show put on by Circus Smirkus in Brattleboro, VT. Circus Smirkus is an incredible group of young performers who put on an incredible acrobatics show. Most of the perform ers are within the same age range as the DREAM mentees, and the kids found the show to be inspiring and entertaining. In addition to Circus Smirkus, Last week, Hollow Drive mentees visited the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) in Quechee, VT. VINS acts as a haven for injured birds of prey, and offers exciting exhibits and shows with their raptors. There are also many scenic trails, including one that leads to the bottom of the Quechee Gorge, where mentees went swimming in the river. With a variety of fun activities behind them, the Hollow Drive mentees are still looking forward to having even more awesome adventures in the remainder of the summer. A few of the more exciting ideas include recording a music video, visiting Burlington, and going to a baseball game. Cody is doing his best to help make these exciting ideas a reality for these remarkable mentees to cap off an unbelievable summer. Back to Top

Putnam Gardens Summer Spotlight There have been many fun things happening in Cambridge-and all over Boston-for the DREAMers in the Putnam Gardens in Cambridge this summer. Even though it is the smallest program in Boston DREAM, the Putnam Gardens program has a lot of spirit. We have had more youth join and great attendance for every day of DREAM Programming. The summer intern for Putnam Gardens is recent graduate of Boston University, Sarah Khalifa, who is known as Sarita to the kids. She loves being a goofball with the kids and helps them learn and grow as they have fun.

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

and making edible dirt, which is really just chocolate pudding, crushed oreos and gummy worms. They have also taken many trips throughout Boston. During the week of the Fourth of July, the kids went downtown to the Children's Day Harbor Fest. There, the kids got free samples of ice cream and juice, had their face painted and visited Barbie's Dream House. Another trip to the Boston Aquarium allowed Cambridge kids to meet up with the Somerville kids. The group enjoyed looking at the big tank with all the fish and sharks and watching the penguins. During another trip downtown, the kids saw Boston's historical sights while walking on the Freedom Trail. Another favorite trip of the kids was a trip to the local pool. Although many kids don't know how to swim, they still had fun learning swim strokes and playing games by the side of the pool. For the final weeks of Summer DREAM, the kids are looking forward to trips to the Museum of Science, Carson Beach and Skyzone, an indoor trampoline park.

Somerville Summer Spotlight This summer marks the second one in which DREAM has provided Summer Enrichment Programs in Somerville Housing Authority's Clarendon Hill affordable housing community. The program has grown rapidly since last year, with dozens of youth ready to participate every day. Molly Pratt is the Summer Community Intern in charge of this community and she is really excited to plan fun, engaging activities with the youth this year. She is also looking forward to meeting with some of the Spanish speaking families to continue to increase her confidence in her Spanish-speaking ability. The youth and their parents are also looking forward to the start of the summer DREAM; they are often the first ones to arrive to program activities and the last ones to leave the activities. Due to the extended school days, summer DREAM will begin by providing afterschool program activities until July 1. July 1st marks the official start of full summer program activities. The kick-off event for summer DREAM occurred on Wednesday June 26th and consisted of games and popsicles. This activity was very well-received, and over 20 youth came out to play games and enjoy the great weather. On Thursday, June 27th summer DREAM participants enjoyed silly snacks and watched Monsters Inc in the Community Room at Clarendon Hill. On Friday, June 28th DREAM celebrated the end of the school year with an ice cream making party and an assortment of art project options for the youth. In Somerville, summer DREAM will occur on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Summer activities will include field trips into Boston, Cambridge, and other parts of Somerville as well as community-based activities. Future trips that will occur include Georges Island and the New England Aquarium among others. Back to Top

Pine Meadow & John Graham Court Wrapping up a Wonderful Summer It has been an eventful, fun summer at the two Middlebury DREAM communities, Pine Meadow and John Graham Court. Since the summer kick-off and ice cream social, the Middlebury DREAMers have been busy https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1114409636877&format=html&print=true

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

swimming at the town pool, creating artwork, playing sports and games, and spending time with their fellow friends in DREAM. The Community Intern for Middlebury, Kelsey Follansbee, has enjoyed organizing activities for and spending time with the DREAM kids immensely and is sad that the summer is over in just a few short weeks. She is a freshman at Middlebury and excited to continue with DREAM as a mentor this fall. The Middlebury DREAM youth have spent a great deal of time being active this summer. Many of the kids who were barely swimming at the summer's start are now not only swimming without assistance, but also confidently cannonballing and doing handstands in the water. A few of the other DREAM kids, who started off as more skilled swimmers, have gone off the diving board for the first time this summer, as well as been encouraged by lifeguards to join the Middlebury Swim team! On other days, Middlebury DREAMers have gone on hikes and bike rides, having fun while they explore and enjoy nature. The kids have taken turns leading these bike rides. They have also been involved in navigating and choosing the routes. Middlebury DREAM has enjoyed going to both Button Bay and Branbury State Parks this summer. In July, kids from Middlebury DREAM met with kids from Poultney DREAM for a fun afternoon of swimming and games at Lake Dunmore. Earlier that day, they hiked up to the nearby Falls de Lana and appreciated the great views that the falls offered. The kids also loved seeing Laura, a former Middlebury mentor, who joined in for the day's adventures. This week Middlebury DREAM has planned a trip to ECHO in Burlington, a trip to Niquette State Park, and an afternoon at Middlebury College's ceramics house to create some art! DREAMers are looking forward to their culminating trip to a drive-in theater to wrap up a busy summer before joining up with DREAM again in the fall. Back to Top

Birchwood Summer Going Swimmingly For the past few weeks, summer activities at the Birchwood community in Milton, VT have been keeping everyone busy! The summer community intern, Julie Jacobs, is excited about taking advantage of every opportunity and event in the surrounding area! She wants to focus her summer events on giving youth in the Birchwood community the opportunity to try new things. For one activity, DREAM youth went strawberry picking and then made popsicles out of the fruit, although, not very many popsicles made it to solid form before being eaten. There have been trips to nearby Sand Bar Beach, to Burlington for cookie decorating, and to Ben & Jerry's free movies on Church Street. This past week they headed to Shelburne Farms for an awesome day of ogling owls and chasing chickens!

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Julie is originally from Vermont, but goes to school in Oregon at Lewis & Clark College. She is excited to be doing DREAM this summer because she can relive all the fun Vermont adventures that she had as a kid. This truly is her DREAM summer because she gets to play all day and have lots of fun with a great group of kids! She is planning on majoring in International Affairs with a minor in Latin American Studies, and is primarily focusing on education for children within these regions. She loves cheese, adventuring, reading, and hugs-and is excited to share all of these interests with the Birchwood community this summer! The summer is moving quickly, but there are still a lot of great activities to look forward to! Many of the kids from Birchwood love to cook and bake (and are really good at it)- so Julie is working on organizing a bake sale to help fund more summer adventures! This week's activities will include sailing at the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center, attending a drumming concert in Milton, learning all about how chocolate is made at the Lake Champlain Chocolate tours, arts and crafts, and a movie!

Summer DREAM Starts off Strong at Riverside! Programming at Riverside began on Thursday, June 20th with a joint DREAM and Burlington Parks and Recreation ice cream social. This was a huge hit with the Riverside community and the ice cream was gone in less than 20 minutes! It provided an excellent opportunity for Dan Dailey and Johanna Fehrs, the two summer community interns, to get to know the kids and the Burlington Parks and Recreation nutrition program that they hope to work closely with this summer. They had a successful first week of programming with lots of basketball, friendship bracelets, a North Beach trip and a trip to Essex Cinemas to see Monsters University. Dan is a rising senior at the University of Vermont studying Political Science and African Studies. Dan's post grad plans are to continue working with kids and considering pursuing a masters in Social Work or Education. This past year Dan was a mentor at the Riverside community and decided to continue with DREAM this summer. He brings his knowledge of the Burlington community, along with an enthusiastic attitude and some mad basketball skills. Dan also works scooping ice cream at Ben & Jerry's, who is a close partner of The DREAM Program and has generously donated a free mini Vermonster to the Riverside DREAMers. Johanna is a rising senior at Colorado College studying Biology and Anthropology with an interest in Public Health. Johanna's future plans include a lot of traveling and hopefully pursuing a master's degree in Public Health. Johanna is a native of Williston, VT and has a ton of experience working with kids in the summer camp setting. She brings her positive attitude and knowledge of fun kid activities to DREAM this summer. Together Dan and Johanna hope to create a fun, safe and activity filled summer for the Riverside community. Looking into the future of the summer, Dan and Johanna plan to take advantage of all that Burlington and the surrounding area has to offer. For this week the Riverside DREAMers are looking forward to a trip to Lake Champlain Chocolates factory and Mount Philo for a hike! Back to Top

That's it for now! Hope you enjoyed the updates, and please do take the 2minute survey to share your feedback! http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e810zomihkituhg3/start STAY CONNECTED

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Recapping a DREAMy Summer - August Edition of The Blue Wagon!

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