Stretching young minds at WonderWorks

By Margene Willis

How to make 87 mentors and 81 children smile and stretch their brains? Spend the morning at WonderWorks, exploring gravity, the solar system, the Tesla coil or playing a floor piano. Or perhaps lie on a bed of nails, make a body sculpture or blow giant bubbles. Some mentors and children tested their courage and trust on the ropes course and the roller coaster. On Friday, Nov. 7, children from nine elementary and middle schools and their Coastal Carolina University mentors spent three hours learning about science through a variety of activities.

Each fall, mentors and children in CCU’s Dalton and Linda Floyd Family Mentoring Program spend a special morning together outside of school. Normally mentors visit children at their schools during lunch and recess or on special days, so this gives them an opportunity to learn and share while engaged in new activities. This is the second year the program has worked with WonderWorks.

“I have received many compliments from our staff and managers about how well behaved and well mannered everyone has been,” says Kaitlin Barnes, education sales manager.

Feedback from schools has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The kids had the best time!” says Jewell McCoy, guidance counselor at Socastee Elementary. “It made them feel so special to have that time with their mentors and experience such a fun place.”

“We had a great day! The kids loved it,” says Gail Dale, assistant principal at Waccamaw Elementary. “Thank you so much for such a wonderful opportunity.”

This semester 141 mentors are serving 145 children in 23 Horry and Georgetown schools for the Dalton and Linda Floyd Family Mentoring Program. Thirteen faculty members incorporated mentoring as Experiential Learning in their courses, while 65 mentors are volunteers.

More mentors are needed; for more information, please contact Margene Willis, 349-2694 or mwillis@coastal.edu.