Serff Offers Youths Fun Summer Activities Program Will Run For Five Weeks

This summer, the Coeur d’Alene school district will offer students in fifth through the eighth grade a chance to explore 38 different activities over five weeks.

The program, called SERFF (Service and Recreation For Fun), is a project developed by Greg Johnson, family resource worker for the school district. Based at Fernan Elementary, SERFF will include one or two daily activities ranging from rock climbing to golf, visits to Wild Waters and Silverwood Theme Park, to sailing, dance and music.

Johnson sees the program as a boon to working parents. “We are targeting fifth- to eighth-graders who are generally too old for babysitting but too young too work,” he said.

“It fits the bill for working parents,” Johnson noted. “The kids will be around people who like them the activities are very kid-friendly. You have a group of caring adults, one for every 12 children, and a group of other kids doing the same activities.”

This is a way, he added, for kids to be exposed to a variety of youth activities and pick what interests them.

The community bus program, N.I.C.E., donated the use of a bus to transport children to each activity, and many of the businesses and programs provided group rates and special accommodations.

Stormy Anderson, Marketing Director for Go Kart Family Fun, said participants will show up four different times this summer, twice in June and twice in July. The park will give them a group discount.

Anderson said summer programs include Youth Hockey and BMX racing. “We want to interest them in other things to do,” she said. “We’re really looking forward to it.”

Larry Knudsen of Diver’s West has planned a program called “Discover Scuba” that will give participants an idea of what happens and what to expect in scuba diving.

“They don’t get the opportunity to do things like this often,” he said. “Scuba is a great confidence builder. We want to give them the experience.”

Johnson was in charge of ferreting out programs like these and finding a way for summer schoolers to sample them.

He traveled with a video camera and his own children to each of the 38 sites offering the summer activities.

“The area offers so much, but it was difficult to find programs,” he said. He videotaped samples of every program and had his children narrate. “At one point we had to do 15 takes,” he said with a laugh.

He had the tape compiled and edited and showed it to students in all of the Coeur d’Alene schools.

“It was a good way for the programs to be seen by kids,” Johnson said. “Sometimes, notices don’t always make it home, and even if kids know about the program, they don’t always want to participate unless they have a pal go with them, like they do in class.”

Johnson pointed out that SERFF is a good way to keep children out of trouble. “When they are busy doing the do’s, they don’t do the don’ts,” he said.

The “service” part of SERFF offers children and parents the option to be involved in a “job shadow.” In tandem with some evaluations and other paperwork, children find someone who has a job who they are willing to follow around.

“This helps to let them see a connection between school and work,” Johnson said. “Kids can see math and communications in action. It introduces them to the work force, and maybe it will help them to decide what they want to do.”

Johnson brought together a wide range of funding and support for SERFF. Among others, he tapped funds from grant organizations like The Kootenai Business Partnership and tobacco tax money from the Coeur d’Alene School District.

The Juvenile Justice Council and Kootenai Substance Abuse Council are also sponsors. North Idaho Youth for Christ provides liability and accounting services, and N.I.C.E. kicked in the use of a bus.

In addition, SERFF qualifies for the Idaho Child Care Program, which can help qualified families defray the program’s tuition. They can get subsidized for children up to age 12, Johnson noted.

For more information on SERFF, contact Greg Johnson at 664-4433.