The Cortes Community Health Association (CCHA) has been offering Youth Programs for more than 15 years. Serene Williams’ association goes back to 2009 when, shortly after moving to Cortes Island, she became the Teen Szene Co-ordinator. She married after that and now has two children of her own. They were initially homeschooled but when both of her children registered for the Cortes Island School, in September 2022, Williams became the Youth Programs Manager for the Cortes Community Health Association. 

“I love it when I am filling in for one of the facilitators for these programs, and I get to go and actually be interacting with groups of kids. I’ve known most of them since they were toddlers, or babies. I have watched them grow up on Cortes. It is so sweet to watch them interact with each other and watch their creativity and their energy. It’s part of why I enjoy my job,” she explained.

“What I’m really proud of right now is that this year, the 2023/2024 school year, we have 77 kids in total attending our programs, including 20 from the Cortes Island Academy and 56 from the elementary school. I think that is a phenomenal number for Cortes. We have a large number of the population of Cortes kids attending our programs, which includes home learners also.”  

“At this point in time, we have 6 program facilitators: Kelly, Lydia, Claudia, Katrina, Steph, and Jasmine. A few of them do more than 1 program. Without great facilitators, we really can’t have great programming. So I am so pleased to be able to have our staff going strong and continuing on from year to year.”  

“Right now, we offer programs for all school age kids from kindergarten to grade 12. All of our programs are drop in, so we never know from week to week who’s going to show up, or how many kids they will have. Sometimes the numbers are smaller, sometimes it’s bigger, and that creates some challenges just to be able to manage the group of kids and their particular dynamics.”

“We have five programs at this point.” 

“Creative Critters is for kindergarten and grade 1. It started in 2022.  That program is held at the Cortes Playground and surrounding areas, and of course little kids just love to play and use their imagination.  There’s 13 kids registered, and last week there were 8 there. That tends to be our smallest program because (I think there’s just the least amount of kids in that age group.” 

“Kids in Action, for grades 2, 3 and 4, has 23 kids registered and there are usually over a dozen kids at that program.” 

“We have an assortment of light snacks for the kids and some free time especially for the Creative Critters, the little kids.”

“Adventures in Leadership, for grades 5 through 8, has also 23 kids registered. That one is a huge group. It is definitely over 15 kids most of the time and Kelly, our amazing facilitator, has lots of spring hiking and exploring planned for that group.” 

“These groups are all broken up into classroom sections from the school, so each classroom also has its own after school program age group.” 

“Then we have the Cougar Sports and Action Games, which encompasses two of the school age groups, grades 2 through 8. There were 27 kids  registered and the group usually has around 8 to 12. They hang around the school in the winter. They’re often playing inside, but we take as many opportunities to keep our programs outside as possible, often playing the favourite of Capture the Flag, Turtle Tag, or all sorts of other games.” 

“The kids just love their own games. And then also trying to bring in just the foundational skills of sports. So being able to throw and catch a ball, basics of basketball,  soccer,  volleyball,  ultimate frisbee and disc golf too. I’m seeing soccer and volleyball are the dominent sports on Cortes, with lots of culture around those two sports.”

“Teen Szene is grades 9 through 12 and supports the new Cortes Island Academy program. 18 kids registered, with often at least a dozen attending.”

“All programs also offer crafts, games and physical activities.  Sometimes our programs take field trips, most especially during the nicer weather in early fall and springtime. The groups will go on the ‘School to Sea Trail’ down to  Mansons Lagoon. They go to Smelt Bay occasionally, and the older age groups hike up to Easter Bluff.”

“We experimented with a new mentorship program. It was one of our success stories this year. In the spring of 2023, I was able to secure a grant. We were able to connect skilled community members with interested youth in a series of mentorship programs for a magic school, yoga, crafts for home learners, writing, coaching, and a painting and fine arts project. It turned out to be really successful and  not only for the children. The mentors were appreciative to get paid for their skills, and they really valued sharing their skills.” 

CC: Do you have anything you want to add?  

Serena Williams: “Part of my role as the youth programs manager is securing funds for our free youth programs. We’re paying facilitators, we’re paying for snacks, we have insurance, we have room rentals and activity supplies.”

“We generally get BC gaming grants, and are applying for other community foundation grants, getting donations, but we are barely making ends meet every year. We always need more funding to keep these programs going.”

“Now would be a great time for the community of Cortes to step in and donate. I would love to see us raise $5,000 from our community. It would be $1,000 for each program. So we can secure the funds to continue operating for the 2024/2025 school year and then beyond.” 

CC: “The CCHA is  a registered charitable organization that can issue tax receipts for donations. You can donate through the CCHA website, directly through the CANADA HELPS website, or mail a cheque to: CCHA  – Box 59, Mansons Landing, BC V0P 1K0.”

Serena Williams: “All that information is on our website. You could also leave a marked envelope at the medical clinic, with cash or a check for our programs.” 

Top image credit: An outing at Dillon Creek Wetland Restoration Project – courtesy CHHA Youth Program

Links of Interest: 

• The Cortes Community Health Association website
• Youth Programs page on the CCHA website
• email [email protected]
• The CCHA Donation page on Canada Helps

Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:

To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency:

• Daily, (articles posted during the last 24 hours) – [email protected]
• Weekly Digest cortescurrents – [email protected]