Jumpstart's Vintage Days appearance prepares children for a life of learning

By Irene Thirlwall

Non-profit children’s organization Jumpstart made their first appearance at this year’s Fresno State Vintage Days.

Jumpstart organizers estimated about 1,000 children participated in Friday's inaugural activities.

“ Jumpstart Kids Day is a wonderful opportunity for the community to learn more about Jumpstart and to witness first hand the program in action,” Jumpstart program coordinator Amy Lukianov said. “By joining the Vintage Days this year, we will reach a much larger audience.”

Jumpstart set a tent up across from the San Ramon buildings with several learning stations aimed at pre-kindergarten-age children.

“ (The Learning stations are) centered on helping children learn and develop social and language skills necessary for later success in school,” Lukianov said.

Volunteers Drew Wilhite, a junior majoring in business administration, and Erica Angel, a junior majoring in pre-physical therapy, worked at the Rainbow Fish station.

The station, named after the children’s story by Marcus Pfister, allowed children to make a paper fish and decorate it with colored paper.

After the kids made their fish, Wilhite and Angel read the book out loud, using the fish like a puppet.

Other activities included Bag Decorating, Magic Wands, Playdough Factory, Puppet Play, Body Tracings, Color Monster and Sand art.

For sand art, children made designs on construction paper with glue, salt and colored chalk. The children ground colored chalk into the white salt to create different colors.

The Fresno Jumpstart program is located at Fresno State and was selected out of 850 applicants by Youth Service America to organize the event, which coincided with National Youth Service Day from April 16-18.

Jumpstart recruits thousands of college students throughout the year to perform community service in its mission to meet the public need for quality early childhood programs.

Jumpstart trains and supervises college students to work with Head Start and other early childhood programs in low-income neighborhoods to provide one-to-one attention to young children struggling in preschool.

The organization’s mission statement is simple: “To engage young people in service to work toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed.”