Story Walk at Muskoseepi Park (Photo Credit: Shane Clausing)

By Shane Clausing

Story Walk

Frontier College and City of Grande Prairie partner to participate in Story Walk program

Jul 22, 2020 | 3:03 PM

Frontier College and the City of Grande Prairie have partnered up to participate in the Story Walk program.

The program was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, Vermont and is a program used to keep children’s minds active during the summer months when many stop reading because school is out.

Janine Kozlowski with Frontier College in Grande Prairie explained why she wanted this program to come to the city.

“The Story Walk came out because normally over the summer we (Frontier College) would do, ‘Summer Reading Tents’. The purpose of the ‘Summer Reading Tent’ is to reduce summer learning loss and that happens when kids are out of school over the summer. They don’t have the same routines as when in school and they don’t retain everything that they have previously learnt.”

Kozlowski says this program was the perfect replacement for her Summer Reading Tents.

“Our goal is to keep kids thinking, engaged and their minds active. The idea with the Story Walk is to socially distance, keep active and engage in some critical thinking.”

The Story Walk takes place at Muskoseepi Park daily from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Kozlowski and another members at the college have purchased several of children’s books for the walk.

In order to make the Story Walk’s a reality, the college will buy two of the same books, cut the pages out of the books, and laminate them and attach them onto signs. The signs are then placed in order on a path in Muskoseepi Park, and people are encouraged to follow the path and read the book, all while getting exercise.

In order to keep children engaged, questions have also been attached to each sign, so kids and their parents can quiz each other on the book.

So far, the program has been met with tons of success.

“I would say it’s definitely been successful,” said Kozlowski. “I get lots of feedback out there when I’m putting them (the signs) up, so the feedback has been really positive.”

Kozlowski says that they ask people who participate in the walk to fill out a survey on their phone once they are finished. So far, Kozlowski says that they’ve received a 100 percent rating when it comes to the walk being successful and 60 people have filled out the survey.

There has unfortunately been one disappointment about the program. The signs were initially meant to stay up at the park 24/7, but some people have vandalized and damaged the signs. As a result, the event has to end at 7:00 p.m.

The Story Walk will last until the end of the summer once the school year for 2020 begins in September and books will be replaced every Monday.