SALEM, Va. – Every summer, the Salem Education Foundation hosts its annual Jill’s Buddy Camp to prepare rising kindergarteners for their first year in school.
“This is my favorite part of the summer,” said Jenna Wilkes, a buddy in Jill’s Buddy Camp.
For one week during the summer, Salem hosts the camp for kids who are about to enter kindergarten.
“They’ve got one of five at-risk factors,” said Tommy Barber, founder and director of the camp. “They could already be identified as developmentally delayed, they could have military families, they could have an extremely low social economic situation, there’s only one parent.”
He said this helps the children prepare for school, and is also great for the older kids in town volunteering.
“We can’t figure out who it helps most,” Barber said. “I think, really, the big buddies benefit more than the smaller children!”
I talked to a former buddy who is now working to get her special ed teaching license, and she said for many of the buddies, this is an introduction for them into the world of education.
“I kind of thought maybe I wanted to do something more in the STEM-Math realm, and then just thinking about how much I just loved doing this week camp every year, that’s just so much more rewarding,” said Emma Hamilton, a former buddy in Jill’s Buddy Camp.
I then talked to a couple pairs of buddies, and for both ages, they said they love this week.
“We played bowling and basketball and all, yesterday we did a bunch of bowling,” said Ben Farber, a second-year buddy. “I love working with kids. Just seeing the youth have fun and seeing them grow up, I think that is just the best thing.”
“Everyone here either wants to work with kids, or just loves being around them,” Wilkes said.
They said while the camp is only a week, the bonds built during the week can last forever.