Breida Cambron was four-years-old, when she fell in love with KidWorks as a preschool student. Today, this Santa Ana College nursing student, still relies on the skills she first learned at KidWorks.
Keeping Breida's Dreams Alive During COVID-19
Student Spotlight: Meet Breida
COVID-19 meant that our traditional in-person summer camps had to be completely reimagined. Through prayer and faith in Jesus, our staff and partners created a unique “Camp Hope” experience that combined Bible study, music/dance and academics/career elements.
Two key highlights of our summer were a Latin Jazz Camp and College2Career workshops.
Spring Break Science Camp: Hands-On Fun With STEM
For the 2nd year in a row, KidWorks Spring Break Sensational Science camp was truly a success. Over the week of Spring Break, 170 students came to KidWorks for a week of hands-on STEM fun including 29 new students from the community.
Students got the opportunity to participate in hands-on science projects including designing a roller coaster, making play dough, race cars they built and designing a space suit thanks to our friends at PBS who provided the curriculum and materials for Science Camp.
STEM Focus Preps Students For Careers That Create A Better Society
“I want to be an astrophysicist.” “I want to be a biomedical engineer.” “I want to be a gastroenterologist.” “I want to be a computer systems software developer.” “I want to be a mathematician.”
Those aren’t exactly the words you’re likely to hear from the young students enrolled in our state-licensed preschool, but we plant the seeds for meaningful careers at the earliest possible opportunity. And that focus continues as they walk with us through high school graduation and on to college.
Who's New: Meet the Newest KidWorks Team Members
Be Of Good Cheer: Support the KidWorks’ Christmas Store
Volunteer of the Month: Julissa Velasco
Julissa Velasco--our October 2018 “Volunteer of the Month—may still be finishing up college, but you’d think she has had decades of teaching experience when you see her skillfully tutoring students enrolled in our afterschool programs
That’s because Julissa has for years made it a point to volunteer with tutoring programs offered in Santa Ana, where she’s lived most of her life. That includes the elementary school she attended as a child.
PTS Marketing Group is helping KidWorks develop the talented workforce of tomorrow
When you support KidWorks, you help develop the next generation of chief executive officers, doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, bankers and entrepreneurs, just to name a few.
That’s because KidWorks programs are designed not only to promote sustained academic success, but also to develop the employees and leaders of tomorrow. We partner with businesses who help us understand the skills and training they are looking for once our students are ready to enter the work world.
Spring break at KidWorks was truly ‘sensational’
Engage With KidWorks: Attend an Event
Editor’s note: Our latest blog series is called “Engage With KidWorks.” We’re excited to share the variety of meaningful—and fun—ways you can become part of the KidWorks experience. In our second installment, we invite you to attend one of our exciting and uplifting KidWorks events.
KidWorks isn't only about homework. We also like to have fun!
That’s why we’re delighted to invite you to one of the many events we hold each year to raise funds, engage with the central Santa Ana Community and enjoy our students’ many talents.
Check out some of the fun stuff we have planned for 2017:
Community Events
The community fairs are much-anticipated events where families from the surrounding neighborhoods come together to share friendship, play games, relax, enjoy snacks and just have fun. These are the fairs planned for this year:
March 18: Bishop Manor Intergenerational Health Fair
April 22: Dia del Niño Myrtle St. Resource Fair
August 19: Townsend-Raitt St. Resource Fair
KidWorks Classic Golf Tournament
Whether you’re a scratch golfer or simply appreciate the chance to play a premier course, KidWorks invites you to make your reservation now for our fifth annual KidWorks Classic Golf Tournament, to be held Thursday, May 18 at the beautiful Pelican Hill Golf Course in Newport Beach.
For more information, please contact Lisa Gels, Manager of Partnerships & Donor Relations: phone: (714) 619-7560 or email: lisa.gels@kidworksoc.org.
Foundation for Success Luncheon
We invite you to attend our annual luncheon, that for the past three years, the Orange County Business Journal has listed as one of the top five fundraising luncheons.
For each of its 10 years, the event has featured an extraordinary keynote speaker. It’s also instrumental in helping us raise a substantial portion of the funds for our after-school programs.
This year’s event details are coming soon!
For more information, please contact Lisa Gels, Manager of Partnerships & Donor Relations: phone: (714) 619-7560 or email: lisa.gels@kidworksoc.org.
Music Concerts Featuring KidWorks Students
Many of KidWorks students have exceptional musical talent. To experience their gifts firsthand, please consider attending these upcoming events:
Wednesday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.: Concert event at Super Antojitos restaurant in Tustin. The event will feature a short five-song set with students in KidWorks Avanti musical program. There will also be a set with Avanti founder and professional musician, Joe Cristina and guitarist/vocalist Tiago Costa. There is no cover charge.
Sunday, April 30, 3 p.m. St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach: “Imago Dei” concert hosted by Jenny Park. This event will feature students from Jenny’s music academy, other local musical groups and selected Avanti students. The concert is free.
By Glenn Leibowitz, Volunteer Content Writer
KidWorks Teacher Spotlight: Dianna Valdez
Editor’s note: In the fourth story in our “The Teachers” blog series, we celebrate Dianna Valdez, Site Director of our Cedar Evergreen Center.
Dianna Valdez stands in front of her small classroom filled with about a dozen first and second graders. She has a question for them as they work through snacks consisting of half a sandwich, an apple, baby carrots, yoghurt and milk.
“What is the opposite of ‘first’?” she asks.
“Second?” one student tentatively volunteers.
“Not exactly,” Dianna gently answers.
“Last!” first grader Adrian says confidently.
“That’s correct,” Dianna says, handing him a sticker that he proudly affixes next to the others on his yellow homework folder.
If Dianna seems like a natural-born teacher, it’s probably because she’s been at it awhile—since she was seven years old, in fact!
“I had a four-year-old cousin, and instead of playing house or dress-up, I was the teacher and she was my student,” Dianna says. “I taught her to read, and to this day my uncle thanks me for doing that.”
Dianna has been a valued member of the KidWorks team for three years, and has led our Cedar Evergreen Center since it opened. From its humble beginnings where only a handful of students attended after school programs, Cedar Evergreen now serves 55 students in grades kindergarten through 12.
She thanks Art Quiroz, Program Leader at Cedar Evergreen, for helping her make the center such a vital part of the surrounding community.
Dianna grew up in Santa Ana and she has a heart for the underserved. She knows firsthand what it’s like for a family to struggle. Dianna, along with her four brothers, was raised by a single mother who worked three jobs to support them.
Dianna also says her personal teaching style evolved from her own experiences as a youngster in elementary school.
“I was a pretty quiet child and probably an average student,” she says. “I saw how the ones who got the most attention were those who were either always in trouble or those who were superstars. Students like me kind of faded into the background.”
Her own approach is the opposite; it’s to involve each and every student.
“We’re all multi-layered, and so I try to see all parts of the student, including the spiritual, intellectual, psychological, emotional and physical,” she says. “I see those layers in every student I serve; they are a soul as well.”
A recent example of Dianna’s caring heart was when she noticed a kindergarten boy had not shown up to class for over a week.
“We value each child in our programs, and I eventually found out that this boy had been in the hospital to have his appendix out,” Dianna says. “I had all his classmates write little ‘get well’ notes, and I brought them to him at his home, along with crayons and a coloring book.”
The little boy fully recovered and happily returned to the Cedar Evergreen Center as soon as he was able.
Outside of her teaching duties, Dianna enjoys hiking and is and perhaps the biggest Disneyland fan you’ll ever meet.
“I go to the park about a dozen times a year,” she confesses. Thunder Mountain is her favorite attraction.
Dianna is also a person of deep Christian faith, and very active in her church, Templo Calvario in Santa Ana, where she serves as Assistant Director of Youth.
Dianna, thanks for sharing your deep passion for teaching with every student under your care, and for seeing him or her as individuals with limitless potential.