Hull’s Summer Recreation Students put the Play in Everyday

For many children, when summer comes around it means water fights with friends, pool days in the sunshine, and biking around the neighbourhood. And for Hull’s summer intern students working with the Recreation program, it means they get to experience all the joyful feelings of being a kid again while giving the young people at Hull the summer they so deserve.

For more than 10 years, Hull has been utilizing the Summer Temporary Employment Program (STEP) to hire students to work with our Recreation program for the summers. STEP provides Hull with the opportunity to not only give the young people we support more opportunity for experiences over summer, but also give these students valuable work experience.

“Recreation is a great way for summer students to get introduced to our Agency and this field,” says Stacey Manolescu, Recreation Programmer at Hull. “It provides opportunities to partner with many of our programs, which includes a variety of ages of young people we support, to see what they might like for their time here or in the future.”

The impact these summer students have had over the years has shaped the summer success outcomes for our Recreation program. Without the support of these students, many of the activities and opportunities offered to programs would not be the same.

“Summer students allow for more Hull programs to partner with Recreation throughout the summer season to help provide day camp opportunities,” says Stacey. “These can include days at the Science Center, an afternoon at the movie theater, a morning spent swimming, biking around campus, hours spent on crafts, and endless scavenger hunts. The students are working on building therapeutic relationships with the young persons served while creating fun memories of trying something new like making s’mores, learning how to build confidence when it comes to making friends and even coming to day camp.”

Many of the young people we support don’t get the same summer adventures as others do. Our summer students allow us to change that.

“Summer staff add such a great value to our department which allows us to expand in our busiest months,” says Stacey. “It also allows us to partner with so many young persons, families, programs, and staff to provide great summer opportunities they might not be able to attend otherwise.”

Not only do the summer Recreation students benefit Hull, but they gain valuable hands-on experience themselves.

“The summer students have shared that they have learned a lot about themselves and how they would like to grow in leadership styles, group management, and program implantation,” says Stacey. “They see this opportunity as a great way to become involved with the Agency, as they get to work with so many programs, the young people we support and staff.”

Summer is short, which is why it’s important to make the most of it. With the support of the summer students, Hull can give our young people the best summer ever, while having a little fun themselves.