Octorara townlively.com
JULY 26, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL XXXIII • NO 21
Chester County Connect Care to offer free Summer Picnic
Freedom Academy student Mary Palmer tests her structure, made using toothpicks and jellybeans, to see how many books it will hold.
Freedom Academy student Ava Dardano builds a marshmallow tower in STEAMS class.
BY FRANCINE FULTON
Families will learn together at STEAMS Camp BY FRANCINE FULTON
ith many summer programs, parents drop off their children so that they can enjoy a day of fun and activities. Freedom Academy, however, is offering a STEAMS (science, technology, engineering, art, math and Scripture) Camp, where families can enjoy spending time together. The interactive, educational day camp will take place at Freedom Life’s main campus, 447 Noble Road, Christiana, from Tuesday, Aug. 1, through Thursday, Aug. 3, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Freedom Academy recently completed is first year as a homeschool co-op, where STEAMS activities were included. “ We wanted to offer something fun over the summer for families to continue learning together,” explained Freedom Academy
“We want to introduce people to Freedom Academy and have something fun and inexpensive for families to do together.” Kreider recently conducted the STEAMS Camp at Freedom Life’s campus in Centre County, and many of those activities, including building structures, performing science experiments and creating art, will be offered in Christiana. “We made foam puffy paint, and they painted 3-D pictures. We will
do an egg drop, and they will build a structure to keep the egg from breaking,” Kreider explained. “Depending on the age group, they will make paper roller coasters, and the younger kids will make marble runs with cardboard tubes. We will build catapults and cotton-ball launchers.” A fee will be charged per child, and registration is open for children in prekindergarten through 12th grade. Projects will vary in degree of difficulty according to the age and abilities of the families. Parents are required to remain on-site and assist their children. “We want to introduce people to Freedom Academy and have something fun and inexpensive for families to do together,” said Kreider. She said that the STEAMS Camp is designed to provide parents with an opportunity to spend quality time
Featured at the picnic will be children’s games (top photo) and face painting (bottom photo).
See Summer Picnic pg 4
Church youth group grows Kindness Garden BY FRANCINE FULTON
Summer flowers are available for picking at Penningtonville Presbyterian Church’s “growing kindness” garden, which was established by the church’s youth group in front of the church. The flowers were planted in two raised-bed gardens. “A couple of years ago, the Girl Scouts did a raised-bed garden, and we repurposed that area for a community garden, where we planted some zinnias, dahlias and geraniums,” explained
See STEAMS Camp pg 8
pastor Eric Dorville. The garden, which is designed to provide flowers for the community, was planted by church youths under the guidance of new youth group leader Meghan Kloss. “The children, with adult supervision, started it in June by planting seeds,” Dorville noted. “They came over every day to water and take care of it. The (purpose of the garden) is to grow kindness.” Most recently, youths gathered on July 10 to weed the garden, trim back the dahlias to encourage more See Kindness Garden pg 5
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director Cynthia Kreider. “The kids do not have to be enrolled in Freedom Academy to participate (in the camp). We welcome all parents and children to enjoy the experience.”
Chester County Connect Care (CCCC), formerly known as Chester County Women’s Services, will hold its third annual Summer Picnic on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. The event will be held at a new location this year - West Brandywine Township Park. Admission to the family-friendly event is free. Activities will include yard games,