GRAND ISLAND (Nebraska) INDEPENDENT

July 24, 2009

Children with Migrant Workers Program visit Hastings Museum

By Sarah Schulz

HASTINGS -- Christian Garcia worked quickly, his head down and his hands moving around and around a doll as he wrapped it with a stretchable bandage.

"Look, I finished my mummy," he said, holding the doll up for a handful of adults nearby to see.

Christian, 11, was among a group of more than 200 students with the Migrant Workers Program at Head Start in Hastings and the Longfellow Elementary summer school who visited the Hastings Museum Thursday morning.

The students were able to view the entire museum -- including "Mount It: The Art of Taxidermy," an exhibit that will be on display through Oct. 25, the Lied Super Screen Theatre, the J.M. McDonald Planetarium, Groundwater Discovery Adventure and the Kool-Aid display.

The hands-on mummy-wrapping activity is part of the taxidermy exhibit. Several students tried their hansd at the ancient technique.

The gold bracelets on Brenda Gonzalez's left wrist jingled as the 9-year-old carefully wrapped a doll from the feet up. She said she came to the museum last year and she likes the planetarium best.

The groundwater display topped the list of activities for Paloma Tepezano, 10, although she also checked out the taxidermy exhibit on Thursday. She said wrapping the doll from head to foot was hard.

Amber Schultz said the Title 1 Migrant Education Program is a six-week summer course that started on June 15 and will end on July 30. Children from 3 years old to high school students are eligible for the program if they meet certain criteria and have had their education interrupted by their families moving, said Schultz, who is the summer coordinator for the program.

The program focuses on reading, writing and math skills to keep the students from falling behind. They also do preview work to prepare them for the upcoming school year and get a lot of one-on-one attention from the adult staff members, she said.

In addition to the classroom learning, the students are also given an opportunity to study their home cultures and share them with their classmates. The culture section includes making flags from their home countries, finding the countries on a map and looking into their individual backgrounds, she said.

There are about 90 students in the program, down from about 150 last year. Schultz said the economy, as well as changes to the program's intake regulations and qualifications, contributed to this year's lower numbers.

The museum trip was made possible with a grant from the Hastings Community Foundation, she said.

Chris Young, museum marketing assistant, said the joint effort between the museum and the Migrant Workers Program is in its 11th year.

"It's been really great," she said.

The students get to see everything in the museum and take part in the hands-on activities, she said.

"It's an experience they might not otherwise have," Young said.