BEST program enriches the lives of Weiser kids

The Weiser of Chamber of Commerce student organization of the year is the Weiser BEST program.
 Co-directors Timbra Long and Cora Walker both shared that it is such an honor to have the community recognize the organization and its efforts to help educate and enrich the lives of local students.
 BEST is a grant-funded program serving up to 25 students in grades 2 through 8. There are 114 students enrolled. Each student participating in the program receives more than just academic support.     
 The program is planned for an hour of enrichment and an hour of homework support in reading and math. Goals are set for accelerated reading points and preparing for the ISAT in the spring.
 Long shared that one of the most amazing activities the BEST program had last year was actually several years in the making: the finishing of the BEST mural at Marbella.  
 Sandra Mockwitz designed the mural and created it on the wall of Marbella. With Megan Overgaard and Renee Sweet starting the creation of the tiles in the BEST program, it took about three years to get all the tiles together so that Mockwitz could create the mural.  
 She and many people from the community helped with the assembly, but mostly it was a project done with the talents and generosity of Mockwitz.
 Another great accomplishment for the BEST program in the year was possible because they were able to get an extra grant to help take the BEST kids to the Discovery Center in Boise, the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, and to a fancy dinner and to see “Aladdin” in Ontario.
 Long shared that these were all wonderful things that most of the BEST program students would not get a chance to experience on their own.
 This year the BEST program will have community members teaching different enrichment activities, maps and social studies, crafts and easy cooking. The program will also also have lots of Saturday activities from tennis, walking, Saturday homework help, and dance exercise all open to the community for free.
 Along with the free activities open to the community, each year the students make and send cards to service people in the armed forces, and the program works as community partners with the city police, city of Weiser and others who like to see the students get some extra support after school.
 Long and Walker also shared that the teachers and administrators that work with the BEST program really make it the most successful. The program teachers teach all day and then stay for another hour or two to help kids with their homework and then teach an enrichment activity, from STEM, art, P.E. and 4-H. And the cooperative extension office sends a teacher to teach the kids about everything from cooking, nutrition, hydroponics, plant science, and Lego robotics.
 “The commitment from the administration, teachers, paraprofessionals, student tutors, bus drivers, support staff at each school, community helpers and parents giving 100 percent provides the best enrichment activities, academic learning, and student safety each day,”  Walker said.
 This year is the 10th year of the BEST program and Weiser’s last year on this grant cycle. The school district will be re-writing the grant in hopes that the community will receive the BEST grant again.

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
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