For most children, the idea of summer school is an appalling one. Why would someone waste their three precious months of freedom to sit in a classroom all day?

The kids who attend Energy Express, a six-week summer reading program held at Ashford and Van elementary schools every summer, can answer that question: it's fun.

Beginning on June 23rd and continuing through August 1st, Energy Express runs 5 days a week from 9:30 until 1:00. Students participate in reading-based activities to help keep their reading skills sharp during the summer months and improve them.

“Energy Express has been shown to help children not only maintain their reading skills during the summer, but often to improve them,” Sherry Waugh, site supervisor at Ashford-Rumble Elementary said.

The program relies on mentors, usually college students going into their junior or senior years, to organize activities for their group of eight children. Together, they paint, read, do writing activities, and play (noncompetitive games where no one wins or loses).

Energy Express also provides students with a nutritious breakfast and lunch every day, completely free of charge. In fact, anyone 18 years or younger can show up for a free meal. 84 people were fed on the first day of the program this year, and 78 were fed the second.

The Ashford site services both Ashford and Nellis areas, with 20 children from each elementary school admitted into the program (the Van site services both Van and Wharton). Kids can apply for the program the summer before they enter first grade up until their sixth grade year.

After they enter 7th grade, students can then apply to become Energy Express volunteers. Adults can also volunteer. Lynn Dangerfield and Susan McCalister, both of Nellis, have volunteered for the last seven summers and Sharron Griffith (who also drives the bus for Energy Express) has now been with the program for eleven years.

The program may not have seen its eleventh year had it not been for the quick actions of one Boone official, however.

After Title I funding was cut, programs like Energy Express felt the pinch. With no state funds allotted to run the program, Waugh was told there would not be one. Board of Education member Joe Tagliente heard about this and asked the Board to fund Energy Express this year.

“Had he not stepped in, we would not have had the program,” Waugh says.

The Board decision came just in time. It was weeks before the program was to begin, and Waugh hadn't enrolled any students because she thought there wouldn't be a program to enroll them in.

Even though the late start made preparations a little more hectic, Waugh (who, like Griffith, has been with the program since it began) had experience and determination on her side.

“It made my job a little more difficult, but if you want it you're going to do it and we wanted it for our children,” Waugh said.

Contact staff writer Zack Harold by calling 304-369-1165