You remember in January, we filled you in on the exciting new partnership that had been formed between Head Start of Frederick County and ThorpeWood. This partnership will bring 400 3 to 5 year olds, served through the Head Start program, up to ThorpeWood over the course of eleven weeks this Spring, and again this Fall. These children will come to ThorpeWood 5 times each for a total of 2000 Head Start kid days in 2014.
Well, we are pleased to tell you that it has begun! We welcomed the first Head Start children up to the mountain last week! Words fail in the effort to tell you how exciting this is for us and how much it means to be connecting with small children in such a meaningful way.
Words may fail, but this picture captures it pretty well:
It is hard to tell who is more excited in this picture – the children or Sam! Being of service in this way is something everyone here at ThorpeWood is so very passionate about.
While the focus of the Head Start program is on school readiness, the exposure to different learning experiences – both inside and outside of a classroom setting, and in our case, equine assisted learning – helps to establish within these wonderful young children a solid foundation for their approach to learning in a lifelong way. Powerful stuff.
You can be involved in helping to support the Frederick County YMCA and the many worthwhile programs that they provide by helping with their Campaign for Kids. You can read about this fundraiser in this article from the Frederick News Post, or visit the YMCA of Frederick County website.
And, we will continue to share with you our experiences playing host to these fantastic kids!