Sussex Consortium students engage in new program
A new partnership between Sussex Consortium and the Lewes Senior Activity Center has benefitted everyone involved, said LSAC President Pam Sweeney.
The center has historically operated a scholarship program for local students called Seniors Helping Seniors, Sweeney said.
“The community supports us a lot, so we want to support them back,” Sweeney said.
The scholarship committee visited Sussex Consortium, but it couldn’t really present a scholarship to students, Sweeney said, so members asked about participating in the school’s occupational program.
“That’s one thing I’m very proud of,” Sweeney said.
The program turned out to be even better than she had hoped, Sweeney said. Female students engaged in a mentoring program with center staff to hone their social and business skills.
Executive Director Tricia Fleming said students made ceramics, engaged with puppies, held a best Play-Doh sculpture contest, practiced coloring in lines, and learned about appropriate hugging and how to regulate their voices. They held a talent show to display their skills and enjoyed a last-day tea party.
“There aren’t too many jobs where you get to color and get paid for it,” Fleming said. “I think it was good for everybody.”
Male students learned occupational and social skills in the workforce program, in which they learned tasks such as cleaning windows and scrubbing banisters. Students celebrated the end of the school year with an ice cream social.
Center staff presented a $1,000 cash donation to Sussex Consortium on the last day of the program. With Fleming retiring and a new executive director coming on board, Sweeney said she hopes to continue the program next school year. Until then, mentors are working to schedule a summer lunch with students.
“Every Wednesday I got to see their smiling faces,” Sweeney said. “They wrap me in hugs. It’s so worthwhile. It’s 100% about the students, but I think they taught us as much as we taught them. We hope they went away feeling they were loved.”
