The fifth annual Alachua County “Lights On Afterschool” event brought around 50 students, parents, teachers and residents to the circus on Thursday.
The Gainesville Circus Center partnered with the Children’s Trust of Alachua County to celebrate and highlight local after-school programs. The event is a 20-year nationwide effort to keep children safe and engaged after the final school bell rings.
Emily McCauley, who began working as the community engagement coordinator for the Children’s Trust in the summer, said the program’s mission is to bring awareness and appreciation to local after-school care facilities.
“We want to highlight all the hard work that all the after-school programs and all the leaders in those programs do,” she said, “and also the importance that they provide for not only the kids, but also the community."
McCauley said the Children’s Trust funds many local programs that serve infants to youth 18 years old. They range from the NewboRN Home Visiting program to the TeensWork Alachua Summer Youth Employment program.
Children of all ages attended the event and partook in many activities, including a bouncy house, hula hoops and cornhole. Several organizations, like Gator Strong Families, Help Me Grow and United Way of North Central Florida, joined the families on the lawn to promote their causes.
Catalina Sigmond is a freshman at the University of Florida and volunteered at the event with Gator Strong Families, a UF organization that raises awareness of the local foster care system. That group has aligned values with the Children’s Trust and recognizes the importance of after-school care, she said.
“It gives kids a safe place after school to meet other kids and know that they have a community supporting them outside their families,” Sigmond said.
In the afternoon, families moved inside for speaker presentations and a performance by students of the Gainesville Circus Center.
Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell thanked attendees and the after-school care community. With the help of several student volunteers, he declared Oct. 23 Lights on Afterschool Day on behalf of the city of Gainesville.
Another speaker, Corey Cheval, the executive director of the Gainesville Circus Center, said she leads her business on the belief that performance is a tool for encouraging growth in children.
“The arts are just a great vehicle for promoting positive outcomes, social emotional development, community building, all that kind of stuff,” she said.
As a mother of two herself, she said she understands how expensive and inconvenient after-school care can be. Cheval added that the Gainesville Circus Center is dedicated to making the arts accessible to everyone regardless of economic status.
By partnering with the Children’s Trust, Cheval said her company has been able to offer more and better services without draining the Gainesville Circus Center’s resources.
Aleaha Wilson attended the event with her husband and two children. She and her family moved to Alachua County from Ohio last month, and she said she finds it especially important for her homeschooled daughter to take advantage of after-school care so she can socialize and make friends in her new home.
“All she has is her brother, so she wants other kids her age to be able to talk to,” Wilson said.
Her family and many others watched the circus students put on their show, swinging from aerial hoops, juggling swords and dancing.
Marsha Kiner, the executive director of the Children’s Trust of Alachua County, said after-school care is vital in helping children explore new interests like circus performance. But it is also important in granting their families peace of mind, she added.
“For parents, after-school care is a lifeline,” Kiner said.