Summer offerings through recreation department have grown over the years
By Rebecca Ray
This summer, Los Gatos and Saratoga residents could learn how to make movies, how to draw portraits, how to make terrariums and about African drumming and art. These were just a few classes among hundreds offered in the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation catalog.
The amount and variety of classes offered is a far cry from what the recreation department offered in its first brochure. In the premier catalog, published in summer 1957, the department--then called the Los Gatos- Saratoga District Recreation Department--offered only baseball, woodshop, modern dance, square dance, drama, tennis, archery and swimming for children. The department also kept youth centers open throughout the week, where children did activities that included ping pong, pool, shuffleboard and crafts. The centers also hosted dances for teens and preteens.
On Wednesdays, older residents could meet for five hours of activities that included arts and crafts, trips, cards, dances and dinners.
Today, the department offers many more classes for children and teens; more unique classes that take place over shorter, one- or two-week increments, such as jewelry making and beeswax candlemaking; classes for adults and seniors; and classes that parents and children take together.
No one is too young to enroll in a course, and there are classes for all ages. Parents and newborns can take a music enrichment class called "Music Together." The department also offers swimming classes for 18-week-olds and their parents.
After Recreation Supervisor Janet Sumpter arrived at the recreation department in 1983, she introduced a day camp program, which has grown to include sports and science camps, multicultural camps, performing arts camps, academic chess camps. counselor-in-training camps and overnight camps.
Today, children can travel to theme parks and take classes such as rock climbing, scuba diving, Tae Kwon Do, fencing, cooking, a baby-sitting workshop, and teen color and fashion. Children can also enroll in summer school and specialized art classes. More unique classes include "Teens Teaching Tots," where teens teach pre-school classes, and "Posies and Petals," where teens learn how to make corsages from flowers and plants.
Within the last decade, the department has started after-school enrichment programs at Los Gatos schools. Recently, the department expanded the programs to schools in the Campbell Union and Loma Prieta Joint Union Elementary School Districts, Recreation Supervisor Patricia Pritchard said. According to Pritchard, the department is working to expand programs to middle school students and to incorporate gifted and talented education courses. This year, the department began to include courses in its brochure that take place in the Loma Prieta district boundaries.
Compared to children, adults have just as many, if not more, classes to choose from--business classes, such as buying and selling homes; computer classes offered online and in classrooms; dog obedience; dance classes, from country line dancing to belly dancing; English as a second language; garden and landscape; parent education; personal growth classes that vary from Chinese herbs to communication workshops; Indian vegetarian cuisine; Red Cross water safety and rescue classes; sports; and nature trips. The department also has a singles group and a "community bootcamp," a five-day-a-week exercise class for people of all ages.
The department offers a list of classes just for seniors, including a fitness class called "Sizzling Seniors" and a class about civic participation.
According to Sumpter, classes that emphasize spirituality and well-being are currently popular, probably because we live in a "high-tech, go-go-go world," she said.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
