Martin Luther King Jr. Mentoring Program again holding Summer Blast
Jun. 14—The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mentoring Program Nita M. Lowey PA 21st Century Community Learning Center will hold its second Summer Blast for students this year, starting June 20 and running through July 28.
The Summer Blast will be held at Meadville Area Middle School and run on Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bus pickup is between 7 and 7:30 a.m. each day, and breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Leading the program will be Dianna Sayre, who has been a teacher in Crawford Central School District for 28 years. She will coordinate the various classes held during the Summer Blast.
Classes taking place during the program include swimming, yoga, rocket science, watershed, one-act play, leadership/drill team and fishing. Other activities include exploration of area parks and waterways, celebrity speakers and character building.
In addition to Sayre, other teachers taking part in the Summer Blast are Bill Pendergraft, Meadville Area Recreation Complex aquatics director; Wendy Kedzierski, who will teach watershed STEM; Nancy Smith, who will teach English communication; Barry Anderson, who will teach fishing; Harrison D. Dixon, who will teach rocket science and leadership/drill team; Erin Gruber, who will teach yoga; and Armendia P. Dixon, who will teach drama.
Teacher assistants for the program are Lilian Groover and Marques McClorin. Exploration of parks and waterways will be conducted by Pymatuning State Park educator Jared McGary and Chad Foster of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Presque Isle is among the areas students will visit.
Speakers include Jon Colinear, Kevin Merritt, Kathleen Hootman, Meadville Mayor Jamie Kinder, Attorney Lisa Youngs and Susan Vidoni.
The program is open to Meadville Area Middle School students going into seventh and eighth grades. Applications were sent out to the students and are available at the school, according to Armendia Dixon.
