As summer draws to a close Heartland Youth Center (HYC) hosted its summer talent show on Thursday, Aug. 11 with many of the summer program kids putting up some performance or the other.
"Each child that performed in the talent show possessed an incredible amount of unique skills and abilities," said Kelsey Bissett, HYC program coordinator. "Not only does the talent show provide an opportunity to express these skills, but it also builds courage and confidence."
"I'm always amazed by their talent as well as their ability to support and encourage one another."
Among the various acts were singing, acro-dance, piano, magic, ear wiggling, guitar, nail painting, drawing, basketball, hoola hooping and even life advice.
"Each day in our summer program we had a different theme and incorporated activities associated with that specific theme," explained Bissett.
This summer the themes included circus, zootopia, wanderlust, India, gone fishing, explore nature, messy madness among others.
"We are also lucky enough to take the kids on a weekly field trip which included Alix Moonwalkers, the outdoor pool at the Blackfalds Abby Center, an overnight campout at Rochon Sands, hiking in Drumheller and a few more," she added. "We also integrated the Walk This Way program into our summer program which involves exploring the community via walking in order to encourage physical activity."
Using Fitbit the summer programme kids' steps were tracked during their walks and they were able to exceed their goal of 100,000 steps by the end of the summer.
"We are so appreciative of all the community support we receive, as well as the incredible kids and parents we get to work with," said Bissett.