Volunteers offer array of fun courses after school

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Monroe Township High School student Danielle Siemons shows nail-care techniques to Woodland School fourth-graders Jacqueline Hur (r) and Samantha Lugo after school Friday during the Hair and Nails minicourse. It is one of many courses being taught by volunteer parents and teenagers in Monroe this winter.

MONROE - A group of parents and students from the township have found an ideal way of beating cabin fever in the winter.

Starting last week and running for six Fridays, parent volunteers and high school students have teamed to run minicourses after school for students at the Mill Lake and Woodland elementary schools. The classes, which include 12 to 14 students each, span subjects from musical theater and cooking to recreational games and yoga.

In all, there are 22 classes taught at Mill Lake and 17 at Woodland, according to Joanne Cordova of the Woodland/Mill Lake PTO. There is a varying fee for those taking the courses, but it is just to cover the cost of supplies and snacks.

Monique Siemons, whose daughter

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Monroe High School student Chelsea Walus (r) works on the hair of Woodland School fourth-grader Joey Ciccione, while Tracey Benyak does the hair of Francesca Speranza (l) after school Friday at Monroe's Woodland School. The class is one of the volunteer-run minicourses that continue over six Fridays.

is among the instructors, said it is a fun

way for the students to spend their Friday afternoons.

"It gives the kids something fun to do after they return from the holiday break," Siemons said, "and the high school students and parent volunteers who run the program have a chance to give something back to the community in the way of volunteering."

Siemons said, "and the high school students and parent volunteers who run the program have a chance to give something back to the community in the way of volunteering."