The Northfi eld Skating School in Minnesota received a grant this summer to fund youth sports scholarships. The grant presentation took place at the Women in Northfi eld Giving Support banquet at the Carleton College Weitz Center for Creativity. Speakers included the school’s founding owner and director Carey Tinkelenberg, Cheryl Strike of the Northfi eld Healthy Community Initiative and one of the school’s longtime students-turned-coach, Vanessa Gonzalez. “Vanessa has been able to skate in our program for the last eight years, thanks in large part to grants and scholarships,” Tinkelenberg said. “She now impacts dozens of skaters as an amazing coach, role model and is one of our best spokes- people — at age 17. She gave a touching speech about the impact coaches have had on her life and how the opportuni- ty to skate and receive on-the-job mentorship as a coach was her dream come true. This is all made possible because of our partnerships with the local school district and North- fi eld Youth Sports Collaborative. We are thrilled that they recognize the value of our mission.” Pictured (l-r) Vanessa Gonzalez, Carey Tinkelenberg and Cheryl Strike
Summer Dreams Camp highlights
learning through skating Figure Skating in Harlem’s founder and CEO Sharon Co- hen wanted to off er an excit- ing and cool experience for her students that would keep them learning and growing on and off the ice throughout their summer vacation.
The Summer Dreams Camp be- gan in 2011 and is now serving nearly 100 girls with daily skat- ing instruction, fi tness classes and educational support.
Staff at the Rockford (Illinois) Skating Club took part in a team-building exercise at the Carlson Ice Arena to clean up and transform the coaches’ room. They re-covered chairs, painted walls and created a wall mural. They purchased cubbies for the staff to put their belongings in. The facelift cost less than $300, which included the paint and materials. The club is also now working closely with the hockey staff . Over the summer, hockey and fi gure skating staff enjoyed a cookout. With temperatures in the 90s, they cooled off with water guns and water balloons.
BEFORE
“We became aware that students often suff er from summer brain drain,” Cohen said. “Summer Dreams Camp gives us a chance to really work in- depth with our students on communications and STEM and it helps keep our student-athletes in shape mentally and physically.”
For students in fi rst through eighth grades, academic classes are designed to enhance student literacy and critical thinking. During afternoon STEM class- es (science, technology, engineering and math), students learn about the science behind their skating through three main units: Body, Ice and Skate.
“This curriculum emphasizes project-based learning as students take part in engaging activities and experiments that will allow them to grasp con- cepts like Newtonian physics, friction, calculating skating scores and the engineering that goes into building an ice rink,” program and operations director Darline Lalanne said.
The camp also off ers fun dance classes, cultural outings and, of course, group skating lessons. A College Dreams program for high school girls fo- cuses on choosing the right college and perfecting application and inter- viewing skills.
Seventh grader Aminata Ba enjoys the goal-oriented program. AFTER
“Figure Skating in Harlem helps you achieve so many goals you could nev- er imagine,” Ba said. “That’s why I love the ice and achieving my goals along the way.”
Coaches are also pleased with the camp’s expansion from two to four days in 2015.
“Our STEM program in its second year has created an energy within the girls that helps them tie everything that they learn in the classroom into what they learn on the ice,” Director of Skating Lisa Blue said. “Our program is engaging but it is most importantly fun for not only the students but the entire academic and skating team.”
— Joanne Vassallo Jamrosz SKATING 47 PHOTOS BY CLAIRE DARDEN
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