Meet my JPAs!

Hello again, friends of Save the Harbor!

As senior staff, we are all taking time this week to appreciate some of our junior staff members! We are grateful that the heatwave is over and that everyone kept working hard to make this summer a memorable one for our neighbors in Boston- thanks for continuing to come to the shoreline!

D at Carson Beach with a clam! 

Meet Daynaja, hanging out with Lily!

To start off, this is Daynaja! If you know anything about basketball, you know what I mean when I say that "D" is your classic point guard. She great at organizing and leading, but also understands what it means to be part of the team. D is EARLY everywhere she goes, which I'm sure her coaches appreciate as much as I do.

Daynaja is always ready to laugh and play with the kids, who have gotten really attached to her at Blacks Creek! She sits with them at snack time and listens to all of their stories, and helps them draw sea creatures when we aren't playing kickball. I can't recall how many times I have asked Daynaja to do something over again for a photo or video, because I see her doing something fun, creative and adorable with the kids! She always obliges, and with a smile on top of it all! Below you can find a video of her being amazed by a disappearing-stone trick that Jake showed her. I think it was the third time that he did the trick by the time I got the camera out and rolling, but Daynaja's enthusiasm doesn't dim! Kids love being able to show her new talents because she is always excited fro them.  She is kind, and she works well with the kids because she has a younger brother- I am sure she is an amazing big sister! If you're looking for someone "D"ependable, look no further than Blacks Creek!

Abdi with mud-balls, smiles and a sea-themed bandana!

AMAZING perspective shot of me reaching into the crab trap!

Abdi's perspective shot of Nora and clams at Carson!

Rocks at Blacks Creek, photo by Abdi!

At both Blacks Creek and Carson beach, Daynaja and I also work with Abdi! Abdi has become fast friends with a lot of our kids this summer! Just last week, one of our campers at Blacks Creek couldn't stop waving and shouting "bye Abdi! Bye-bye, Abdi! Don't forget to play 'taps' with me next week!" Abdi thankfully waved back so that the mom had an easier time getting out of the parking lot! (Nice fan club, Abdi!)  Abdi is king of the crab trap in Quincy, and I have to laugh because he is always smiling despite this job. Our kids go right up to him whenever they find a dead minnow or crab, hoping to use it as bait. Even with dead sea creatures being thrust in his face, Abdi remains calm and friendly. Abdi has also gotten really good at taking "perspective shot" photos- check out some of his work below, I pulled a few of my favorites for this post, but am excited to always have someone to take a close-up of what we find!

Great perspective shot of the kickball field, also by Abdi!

I have spent the most time with D and Abdi out of all of the JPAs this summer, and I have learned so much from both of them. They taught all of the kids at Blacks Creek how to play their new favorite game, 'taps,' with a kickball, and showed me that they are great role models and inventive counselors. Both Daynaja and Abdi have shown great sympathy for the kids and have really become invested in their work here at Save the Harbor. If they had not genuinely been motivated for their positions as JPAs, I don't know how I would have made it through the heat wave, or the summer, for that matter. Thanks D and Abdi for all your help at Blacks Creek and Carson, it really has meant a lot to me!

Until next time,
Carolyn

Water Slides

First day at Piers Park and it was amazing! The kids went to the park and there were sprinklers. Each kid had something to put the water in and poured the water on the nearby slide. They called it "The Water Slide." The kids worked as a team to gather water and put down the slide. Everyone got to go down the slide, and as they did every kid had a big smile on their face. The water slide was so fast that the kids had hard time stopping but they didn't seem to mind. Piers Park was so fun that I would like to come back and get to know the kids more and staff as well.

Later Piers Park, I'll be back!
-D

Fun In The Water !

Today was a hot day. It was so hot that Ashley and Bret decided to dunk there hats in the water and pour it on their heads. As they were doing that Ashely said "ah, much better!" They kept doing it over and over and each time the smile on my face and the kids' faces got bigger and bigger. After it all they were so soaked, but that didn't even matter to them, they were having so much fun. I LOVE BLACKS CREEK!

Until we meet again
-D

Molly The Mermaid

Molly the mermaid and Sam

We had a special friend join us today on Blacks Creekm and her name is Molly the mermaid.
Our friend Sam took her time and built Molly on the sand. Molly the mermaid has seaweed for her hair, seaweed as her bracelet and chain. Molly also has rocks going down her stomach. Sam says that Molly has special powers and that she is the most beautiful mermaid in the whole wide world. Sam is one of are most creative kids that we have and all the other kids enjoy what she makes and I love see the creative things she comes up with every time we have her at Blacks Creek.

Molly says " Hi everyone."
-D

Coloring Sea Animals!

Hey friends of Save the Harbor!
At Blacks Creek this week some kids and I decided to color sea animals. We also drew things we have caught at Blacks Creek. Emma in the top left of the picture drew a hermit crap and named it Lilly the Hermit Crab. In the bottom right Jessica started to draw sea snails on the sand. I had a lot of fun looking and seeing what the kids were drawing and coloring in, the way they see how the animals  look is actually pretty fascinating.


I'll be back!
-D



Finding Clams!

Hey you guys at Carson Beach!

 The kids from the YMCA and I dug for clams. As we kept digging we found so many clams and snails. The look on the kids faces as they were digging was so amazing because every time they would find a clam they would just yell "HEY HEY look I found another

one!" Turns out that digging for clams is really fun! I enjoyed every minute digging and so did the

kids. 

When we first started digging for clams

Showing me the clam he found

All the clams we found!

Later in the week, a couple of us staff went to the Better Beaches event in East Boston. We found so many clams but the ones at Carson beach were way bigger then then the ones at Constitution Beach. At Constitution Beach there are a lot of quahogs! I had so much fun at the Better Beaches event and would like to go back this summer.

Until next time!

-D

Blacks Creeks Kick Ball Fun

On are fun agenda at Blacks Creek we got to play a game of kick ball. We had one girl captain and one boy captain. Of course boys are going to pick other boys and girls are going to pick other girls, so as that happened, everyone was ready to get the games started. The boys were in the lead by 3 points with 2 outs. As James kicks the ball something unexpected happened, that even shocked my eyes little Molly catches the ball and gets the third out for the boys. Seeing all the kids smiling and having fun just brightens up my day even more at Blacks Creek. Girls really do ROCK!!!!!!.

Catch you later!
-D

Kayaking

We left Blacks Creek and met up with another team of JPAs at Carson, and head teacher Bridget asked if you wanted to try kayaking. I thought "oh no, I'm gonna die" because I had never done kayaking before. My friend Ary was excited but also a little scared. My nervousness lasted until we got in the boats, and then suddenly I was fine- turns out it's really easy! We ended up having fun, I couldn't wait to do it again the next day. I had a great time at Carson beach kayaking.

 

 

Catch me kayaking !

-D

 

 

First Day!!

Today was my first day working at Blacks Creek and it was amazing! I got to meet a lot of children that were so excited to learn new things and to have fun. On Blacks Creek all the children were out looking for shrimp, crabs, and minnows. They use nets and we keep the crabs in the bucket, like in the picture below.

Kids around the crabbing bucket

One of the kids caught a little crab and named it Frank. I love goofing off with the little kids and seeing them have so much fun playing with crabs. The kids were so sad to let Frank go but we will be back for more crabs next week!

Here's a picture of one of the kids playing with Frank.:

In a staring contest with Frank

I enjoyed my first day on Blacks Creek with all the kids!
-D

Me!

Hi everyone, my name is Daynaja Depina but people call me "D." I'm 16 years old and I am from Dorchester. This is my first year at Save The Harbor Save The Bay. I am very excited to be working for this program. I'm also excited to learn new things and meet new people.

My favorite part of orientation was getting to know the staff. I got to meet college students, other high school students, and people who run the program. I could just tell that I'm going to have a fun and amazing summer with all these new people. At orientation we played different games to get to know the people we are going to be working with. My favorite game was "Where the wind blows." I can't wait to start.

See you later! 

-Daynaja Depina