Dream Big with La Jueza

Dream Big with La Jueza

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor attended “Dream Big for Our Rivers Environmental Day” at Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx on Wed., Jul. 17th.

Justice Sotomayor spent time in the morning with the children at their workshops and joined them after lunch for a closing reception.

Another special guest, Cáthia, a contestant on the top 16 on NBC’s “The Voice”, performed.

“Dream Big for Our Rivers Environmental Day” was a full day of activity for the children in the Bronx Children’s Museum’s Dream Big summer program, now in its fourth year.

The morning featured an activity “Meet Wiggly Worms” and three engaging workshops: “Become a Scientist: What are Macroinvertebrates?”; “Move With Nature”; and “Meet Bronx River Animals.” Smaller in scale and more intimate than previous years, the event focused on children’s learning about the Bronx River and its natural wildlife.

“Dream Big for Our Rivers,” this summer’s Bronx Children’s Museum’s Dream Big program, centers on the life of the Bronx River.

This year, ninety children from Abraham House, CS 211, and Kingsbridge Heights Community Center have been learning about the story of the Bronx River and exploring its habitat. The Museum is providing children with 12 sessions including arts instruction (drama, dance, or visual arts); a visit from the Museum’s River on the Go bus exhibit on its purple bus; the full day at Fordham University; a field trip to the Bronx River; and a closing celebration at their camp site or the River.

The overall goal of the “Dream Big” program is to inspire children to dream big, work hard, follow their passions, and to become caretakers of their world.

“Dream Big” is a four to six-week summer arts enrichment program for children from 1st-3rd grade at local Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and schools. Museum early childhood educators bring together local Bronx artists with local CBOs, schools, community groups and artists. This past school year, “Dream Big” expanded into an after school dance and visual arts program at PS 55 for forty children in Morrisania.

Partners in “Dream Big for Our Rivers” include Abraham House, Bronx River Alliance, Children’s Aid Society, Fordham University, Kingsbridge Heights Community Center, New York Botanical Garden, Trout in A Classroom, and Community School 211, and also Fordham University, funders Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, Montefiore Medical Center and New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund.

“Our board is very proud to have Justice Sonia Sotomayor with us once again. We are also pleased to welcome the very talented Cáthia, to help us mark another milestone in our growth. We continue to be fully committed to delivering comprehensive summer programming to Bronx camps that is relevant, meaningful, inspiring and most of all, fun. Having both the Justice and one of the Bronx’s talented young artists is a wonderful way to celebrate and honor our children,” said Board President Hope Harley.

Founding Executive Director Carla Precht added, “This year we are using the theme ‘Dream Big for Our Rivers’ as a metaphor for taking care of oneself and one’s neighbor. Most of the children we work with have never been to the Bronx River or to a river at all. By exposing children to the actual river habitat and its ecosystem of living organisms, they develop empathy and a comfort level for all living things and communities. Learning is also heightened when children are engaged on many different levels ― cognitive, physical, and creative. ‘Dream Big for Our Rivers’ does all this and more.”

The Bronx Children’s Museum is slated to open its Kids Powerhouse Discovery Center by late 2015 in Mill Pond Park across from Yankee Stadium. The Museum collaborates with, complements and supports community-based organizations, shelters, foster care and day care programs, and schools, as well as cultural and recreational institutions in the Bronx.

The Museum provides affordable, accessible, interactive, inquiry-based early childhood programs and exhibits for children from Pre-K to third grade promoting literacy, arts, social studies, health, history, science, greening and sustainability.

For more information, please visit www.bronxchildrensmuseum.org.