Kouma CDC celebration commemorates 1-year anniversary
Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor
Thursday, August 30, 2012
The Kouma Child Development Center celebrated two milestones Aug. 22, the end of summer and their one year anniversary, complete with games, competitions and cake.
The CDC had been holding a summer camp for preschoolers and kindergarteners since the beginning of the summer, and its last day was Friday, but child care will continue throughout the year.
Kathy Christmas, Kouma CDC facility director, said this year has been a busy one, but very worth it. She added that the planning of a double celebration to her already-full list of things to do was made possible by the incredible and consistent support Kouma has had from everyone.
“Really, this first year wouldn’t have gone so smoothly without the help from everyone who wanted to make this place great for the kids,” Christmas said. “Our key players in throwing this celebration were youth sports and fitness, the Keystone Club from Bronco Youth Center, Comanche Youth Center, the temporary and permanent staff here at Kouma, and the Child Youth and School Services Hired! programs that they have on post – they made this all a reality for us.”
The one-year anniversary fell exactly on the correct date, with Kouma CDC opening Aug. 22 of 2011, which Christmas said she was very pleased with.
“We originally wanted to have this party on Thursday, the 23rd, but with school starting next week, all of the kids have their meet-and-greet with their teachers for next year. That would have stressed everyone out having a party and a meet-and-greet on the same day,” Christmas said. “But this worked out perfectly. I didn’t even realize that we were having the anniversary party on the exact date of our one-year opening until this morning. Everything really has worked out great for us.”
The kindergartners and preschoolers were busy playing all day long during the celebration, which wrapped up at the end of the day with a talent show and a birthday cake for Kouma CDC. The games even included an Xbox Kinect dance competition, displayed on a more-than-10-foot inflatable screen. They also had Wii Sports competitions, with bowling, tennis and other Wii games.
Apart from the video game sports, they also had real sports, with a basketball basket toss, bean-bag toss, sack races and more. One of the activities that was very popular with the kindergarteners was the temporary-tattoo parlor. Children were able to choose from a large selection of temporary tattoos, and the Kouma staff helped them transfer the tattoos to their hands for the day.
The water activities were exciting for the Kouma CDC children, because they had the chance to wear their swim suits to the party and play water games. There was even a painting activity where children sprayed water onto paintings, creating a water-color masterpiece to take home.
“I’m so pleased with how the party turned out,” Christmas said. “We had so many parents come for lunch and who ended up staying for the rest of the party. This is only our first-year anniversary, but I’m looking forward to many more.”
