Farmington Feed: Summer Recreation Registration & Youth Scholarship
This is the Farmington Feed, bringing you information from the city of Farmington.
Caryn:Hi, and welcome back to the Farmington Feed. I'm Caryn Hojnicki, the city's communications specialist, and I'm hungry for another episode of the feed. It is March, and, yes, we are already talking about summer. I know parents, I feel you.
Caryn:Summer camps, sports camps, vacations, planning summer is hard, but Farmington Parks and Recreation is here to help. I have with me today Emilee Schearer, our recreation supervisor, who is no stranger to the feed. Hi and welcome back again.
Emilee:Thank you.
Caryn:Thanks for joining us today.
Caryn:And today, we're going to talk about summer registration and all important and underutilized youth scholarship that is available.
Emilee:Yes.
Caryn:So, Emilee , can you tell our listeners when summer registration starts?
Emilee:Summer registration starts Saturday, March 15.
Caryn:Wow. That's like soon.
Emilee:Yeah. Yeah. Not just a couple week, a week and a half away.
Caryn:Yeah. And it's already March and that's crazy to me. So tell us a little bit about what you got going on this summer, some of the popular programs, are they your favorites, and then we'll talk about our new stuff.
Emilee:Yeah, so we have ample amounts of lessons, activities, programs, things of that nature. Things for three to five year olds like, our little camps, they kind of change what the theme is for the little camps and as well as the middle camps, which are for five to six year olds. We have T ball and Footfire Soccer. Those are some long standing programs that we've had for quite a few years. And those are for three to five year olds.
Emilee:We have water park camp.
Caryn:That's a fan favorite.
Emilee:Oh, yeah. Where everybody gets to or not everybody. Those who sign up get to, go on the bus, take a field trip to the various water parks around town. I know, like, go to Cascade Bay and I think the Apple Valley Water Park and and things of that nature. And then we also have adventure camp where again, it's that same kind of field trip vibe.
Emilee:So they go on four different field trips. Mhmm. And again, it's like ninja conquer and gym and I don't know, Valley Fair and all those kind of fun stuff.
Caryn:Yep.
Emilee:And so we've got a and that's for a little bit older of an age group. And, yeah, we've just got a whole variety of fun things prepared for the summer.
Caryn:Yeah. So what are some of the new programs that you're gonna offer this summer?
Emilee:Yeah, so we have, something called Mini Hoopsters Basketball Camp. Again, that's for that three to five year old range. I'm trying to get kids interested in different sports. Again, we've had T ball and Footfire soccer for that three to five year old range for quite a while. So we're trying to introduce maybe a couple new, sport ideas so that if you're not interested in soccer or T ball or baseball, or softball, you know, then you can try something else.
Emilee:And so that will be one night a week for six weeks just like our T ball and footfire soccer program is. And then also we have a new flag football for three to five year olds.
Caryn:Oh, how cute.
Emilee:Again, one night a week for six weeks. And so, yeah, it's just is bringing in a couple new sports to our kind of collection to get those little kids, youngsters out and playing different sports.
Caryn:Yeah. And outside. Right?
Emilee:Yeah. And so technically, you can actually sign up for soccer and then, that's on Mondays. T ball is offered on Tuesdays and flag football fusion is also offered on Tuesdays and then, on Wednesday will be the or basketball camp and then on Thursday will just be T ball. So you can sign up for all four
Caryn:You could have something every day of the week there.
Emilee:Yes.
Caryn:All right. So we also needed to talk about the topic of the youth scholarship. It seems to be a little bit underutilized and we've been trying to get the word out so people that need it can get it.
Caryn:So let's talk a little bit about how it works and what it does.
Emilee:Yeah. So this youth scholarship program is actually funded by the Rotary Club of Farmington and the Louis Schmitz Foundation. They have made generous commitments to sponsor this, program for the Parks and Recreation Department. And so essentially what it does is it provides registration or fee assistance for any of our recreation programs, lessons, activities, anything of that nature, for the youth in the area. The only thing it does not cover is an, admission into the hockey rink, but it does
Caryn:So for like open skate and stick and puck?
Emilee:Yes, but you can apply it to our learn to skate lessons.
Caryn:Okay. Yep. So if someone's interested in this, how do they apply for it? What do they need to qualify?
Emilee:Some of the qualifications is that you must be 17 years or younger. So you have to be a youth. And then also you have to live within the boundaries of the, one hundred ninety two school district. So in our area, 17 years and younger, so basically the youth in Farmington or those who go to Farmington school system. And then you also have to meet certain income limits.
Emilee:There's different ways in the packet that, you can download or you should download in order to access the application. And that shows different ways that you can show your proof of income, like the free and reduced hot lunch program or, showing your recent federal income tax form or those sorts of things. But you can find all of the different ways, within that packet. And then also there is a time when we do see some case by case basis, or case by case, circumstances where a family has something has come up in their life, throws them for a loop. And so if that is your case, you can write a letter and attach it to your application explaining why in this moment you need the assistance.
Emilee:We do give a maximum amount of $100 and that is per child.
Caryn:Okay. If they're a couple kids, then they can all.
Emilee:Yeah. So yeah, if there's three kids, all three can use it. So that would be $300 total. Obviously, just one kid is applying and not the other two, it is just $100 We're not going to extend the other 200 to that one child. That's yeah.
Emilee:And then, so how to access the packet? You can either go to the city of Farmington's main website, which is FarmingtonMN.gov and type in the search bar in the upper right hand corner, use scholarship packet, and it will pull up the page. From there you can click the PDF button and download all of that the quickest way. Or, when you're looking through your summer brochure coming up here,
Caryn:mmh
Emilee:should be delivered to the houses soon, if not already. On page 29, there is a QR code. It's in the blue kind of square box at the bottom left hand side. And you can click on that QR code and it'll send you right to the website that you need to download the scholarship packet on.
Caryn:Perfect. And then when is this available? Is this all year or certain times of the year? How does that work?
Emilee:. It is available all year round. So yeah, if you wanted to use it in January, you could use it in January. If you wanted to use it in December, we have programs that go through December too. So yeah, you can use it all year round.
Emilee:Yep.
Caryn:Perfect. Anything else you want to mention about summer and the youth scholarship?
Emilee:We're just looking forward to a great summer. We're excited. We've got new programs. We've got old programs that have been, you know, long tradition standing. And so we're just kind of, you know, we're ramping up for it.
Emilee:We're planning. We're we're getting things together. And don't wait to sign up and don't wait to register because things do fill up. And so you wanna make sure you get that spot for your kids.
Caryn:Alright. So before I wrap up today's episode, I'm gonna thank you for being on again.
Emilee:Yes.
Caryn:And, remind everybody, summer registration starts Saturday, March 15. And the newsletter should be hitting homes around the same time.
Caryn:Get registered for those summer camps, don't forget about the free movies and music in the park. Those are always a great time.
Emilee:Oh, yeah.
Caryn:And then check out our website calendar for or Facebook for details on all the events that we're gonna have this summer. Yes.
Caryn:Well, that concludes this episode of the Farmington Feed. Thank you for listening. We look forward to connecting with residents with this podcast. If you have any feedback, guest requests, or ideas, email me at Communications@FarmingtonMN.gov. Don't forget to subscribe to the Farmington Feed wherever you like to get your podcasts.
