ReCreate’s mission for the new year is to engage participating families, students, and teachers and build stronger connections. Maker VISTA member Trina Lafata thought working with students from ReCreate’s after-school programs would be a great place to start. Trina began sending out weekly emails to parents of the participating students, including a brief statement of what the students would be working on/with that week, upcoming events at ReCreate, and links to social media pages containing photos or further info. This method keeps the parents up to date not only with what maker activities their children are tackling, but also makes them aware of all of ReCreate’s initiatives, offerings, and goings-on. Even in the first three weeks of emailing, Trina has seen awesome results. The prompt turnaround she commits to this task (emails go out no later than one day after programming) leads to immediate “likes” and sharing on social media. Hopefully, this will continue to strengthen partnerships with families and the larger community as well.

Three adjectives or adverbs that describe making at ReCreate this month:

1. Creative
2. Challenging
3. Inspiring