- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
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Program Managers Dawn Kleeschulte and Micaela Cook
Lansing Youth Service offers a series of programs to young people who are not typically involved in traditional youth programs. The committee directs program managers Micaela Cook and Dawn Kleeschulte, who are responsible for administering the programs. Some, like Primitive Pursuits, are shared with other municipalities' programs, while others, like Young Filmmakers, are taught directly by the program managers. Beth Bement Martin was on hand at the Town Board meeting to represent the Lansing committee.
"As I talk to youth commissions around the County, and I try to get them to be good, vital groups, it's always Lansing that I'm showing as an example," Johnson said. "It's all volunteer work, it's monthly meetings, it's spaghetti dinners, it's going to visit the programs, it's chaperoning some of the programs." She also had praise for the program managers, saying, "Micaela Cook and Dawn Kleeschulte are top notch program managers."
Kleeschulte's work with High School students prepares them for the workplace by providing real, paying jobs that students get by preparing resumes and interviewing. With periodic interviews she is able to monitor their abilities and success at getting and keeping jobs, while providing guidance in those areas.
Primitive Pursuits teaches kids how to survive in the wild
Cook administers a wide variety of programs for Middle Schoolers, including art, a gingerbread house construction workshop, grape picking, film making, survival skills, foreign culture, crafts, cooking and ecology. On top of those she offers special events which last year included free family movie nights at the Town ball fields, an Indonesian music performance and the 3rd Annual Kids' Fishing Derby, which attracted 73 kids. "Micaela Cook and Dawn Kleeschulte are top notch program managers," Johnson said.
A neighborhood of gingerbread houses
was developed last December
Cornell Cooperative Extension's Linda Schoffel told the Board about surveys and studies that have been used to measure the effectiveness of the program. She presented a report that evaluates social skills and team work, decision making and leadership skills, and environmental awareness and stewardship. "We looked at several things," Schoffel said. "One was caring relationships with an adult outside of the family. All the research finds that is really critical to kids."
She said that at the beginning of the year 35% of the kids surveyed said they did not have an adult they could count on for advice and support. By year's end 98% of kids across all the municipalities the programs serve said that they did. "That was astonishing in and of itself," she said. Johnson noted that her department is initiating Youth Bus Passes as a result of a transportation survey that 300 kids responded to.
Young Filmmakers learn about shooting and editing their own films
She noted that the program managers focussed on specific programs to get feedback from the kids. "Micaela was the only one of our program managers to try a focus group at the end," Schoffel reported. "She brought in an outside person to talk through the program and what they got out of it. Out of this came this profound statement from one of the youth when they asked , 'What do you hope people will think when they watch this green homes video?' He said what he really hoped was that they'd see that kids are capable of doing great things."
With a budget of about $47,000 Lansing Youth Service offers a robust collection of programs that fills the gaps between school arts and sports programs and those offered by the Recreation Department. Johnson credited the committee for the health of Lansing's program. "It's folks like that who talk to the program managers to get them to understand what kids they want served, what services they want provided, and what changes they want to try to make."
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