Summer would not be summer around Grant County without another installment of the Energy Express program at Petersburg Elementary School.
This year’s program, which comes to an end with Friday’s “read to me” pool party at the Petersburg city park, has attracted about 48 children a day, plus a loyal cadre of daily volunteers.
Courtney Kisamore, the program’s community coordinator, estimated there have been 30 volunteers, many of them teenagers. This year’s classroom mentors are Americorps workers Jessica Michael, Whitney Arbogast, Levi Dayton, Emily Brown, Bre Wright and Brittany Streets. Of those, Michael is in her second year with the program. The site manager is John Sezawich.
Youngsters in Michael’s class (above) are (front) Anna Gavette, Haley Legg, Burgundy Roby, Erica VanMeter and Hunter Allen, plus (back) Zach Wampler, Michael and Cody Stump. In addition to providing summertime reading lessons and socialization, the program has a nutrition element. EE also encourages community service. Its blood drive earlier this summer raised 36 units. Friday’s event starts at 9 a.m., with members of high school sports teams encouraged to attend as volunteer readers. Everyone will then head to
the pool.