Sigonella School Age Care Earns Highest Marks

By Megan Mills, NAS Sigonella Public Affairs

If you walk into the School Age Care building, you may see children shooting hoops, making we call youth input. They talk to bee finger puppets, or playing a board game with friends. What you might not see is all the work behind the scenes that goes into making the program a safe, educational, and fun place for kids to be. SAC recently received recognition for all that work, earning not only their general four-year accreditation from the Council on Accreditation, but also credit for additional services provided.

SAC, part of the Children and Youth Program of Morale, Welfare, and Recreation, serves children from kindergarten through age 12, providing before-school, afterschool, and summer programming. They are aligned with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America as well as 4-H, and their instructors provide activities focused on core areas of technology, sports and fitness, health and life skills, education and career development, the arts, and character and leadership.

However, the instructors go above and beyond those core requirements. According to Adam D’Amico, Youth Director, “The staff use what we call youth input. They talk to the youth and they observe the youth and see what things they’re interested in, and then they develop the activities from there.” One week, inspired by a budding entomologist, the instructors created a project involving caterpillar necklaces, the aforementioned finger puppets, and a soil filtration activity, among others.

The COA is an independent nonprofit organization that publishes standards, processes accreditations, and provides guidance on making improvements to social service providers.

Earning accreditation, which lasts four years, took almost a year and involved a self-study, ample documentation, and a site visit. SAC staff, parents, and children all took part, along with other CYP and MWR staff. The process was not without its difficulties, said D'Amico. "Prior to the actual site visit, our building flooded and we were going through a staffing shortage. Our goal was to make sure families were not impacted by our own internal struggles. It was nice to hear that, through all the challenges, as a team we were able to rise above and truly make a positive impact for our families.”

The COA’s report concurred, noting “The staff are a great team and work well to meet the needs of the program, youth, and families.” They found no issues to address, noting that SAC “truly meets the needs of its community.”

In addition, COA awarded SAC supplemental accreditations for arts education and enrichment, academic enrichment and skill development, health and wellness, and homework help and tutoring. As D’Amico pointed out, “Additional work and documentation was required. Not all programs are able to meet the additional service standards.”

Jason Albano, age seven (almost eight), provided his own endorsement of SAC. When asked about his favorite part of the program, he replied, “I like everything.”

To learn more about SAC and other CYP programs, visit https:// www.navymwrsigonella.com/.