WAILUA — There was barely enough room for a person to sit at any of the tables Wednesday at the main pavilion of Lydgate Park. Instead, the benches, tabletops and the space below the tables were filled with backpacks, packages
WAILUA — There was barely enough room for a person to sit at any of the tables Wednesday at the main pavilion of Lydgate Park.
Instead, the benches, tabletops and the space below the tables were filled with backpacks, packages and hundreds of students.
The sight was unusual as the pavilion is usually filled with people enjoying the popular Eastside park, but on Wednesday the owners of the parcels were out on the fields and beaches as the county Department of Parks and Recreation hosted a fun day.
Spearheaded through the efforts of Brandi Tacbian, site leader at the Kilauea Neighborhood Center, more than 400 of the students enrolled in the county’s Summer Enrichment Program closed the six-week program with a day where studies and learning played second fiddle to just having fun.
“There’s only about 450 students here today because a lot of them are on vacation, or some of them are attending camp hosted by the National Tropical Botanical Garden,” said Pat Ho, a Summer Enrichment Program leader.
Screams of laughter punctuated the field that was dotted with numerous inflatable water features as young people took advantage of the summer sun. Others opted for the two stations set up on the beachside of the park.
Stephanie Miyasaki, a student hire for the program, said there were about 650 students enrolled for the Summer Enrichment Program, generally known as summer fun, in nine sites around the island.
More than 100 student summer hires were employed by the county to help run the program, which started June 15 and closed Wednesday.
Miyasaki, at a conversation during a Willie K. appearance Friday, said the final day for the staff is Thursday when they spend the day closing the books and cleaning up the sites.
With school starting as early as Monday for some students, the program afforded families an opportunity for the students to have fun and get an education while parents are at work.
Miyasaki said this year’s program reinstated the educational component and at least one teacher was hired for each site with the curriculum for this summer centering around health and wellness, food, and enjoying an active lifestyle.
Melanie Okamoto of the Parks and Recreation Department said the next program will be during the Winter Break that takes place in December, and parents wishing to enroll students in that program should be on the lookout for registration dates.
“This is it,” said Clyde Vito, a Parks and Recreation coordinator from Kalaheo Neighborhood Center. “This is the last day for this year.”
