Youth Activities Center hosts holiday camp

The kids received dancing lessons from A Social Affair dance studio, went on field trips to Chuck E. Cheese and the Orange Park Mall movie theater, and participated in Circus Fit along with the many other daily activities offered at the YAC.

Circus Fit is a national youth fitness program from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that encourages America's youth to lead healthy, active lifestyles by combining the fun of circus skills with stretching, strength building and aerobic exercise. Circus Fit comes back to NAS Jacksonville as a continued partnership with Feld Entertainment, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The students also got free dance lessons from Robbie Cox and Megan Lee, instructors from A Social Affair dance studio. The dances they learned were the East Coast swing, foxtrot, cha-cha, waltz, tango, East Coast line dance, salsa and merengue. Cox commented on why the dance studio chose to participate in the free event for the kids, "They asked us to be a part of the youth program to help kids learn to dance, and we decided as a group and as a company to do this for free to show them what dancing is all about. Ballroom dancing is very proper, so it teaches the kids how to come in contact with one another, how to ask a lady to dance and to prepare them for later in life to be gentlemen and ladies. It was really great just to have the opportunity to share what we love with this group of kids," he said.

A group of kids from the NAS Jax Youth Activities Center gather with some clowns from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus during their visit to the center Dec. 21. Photo by Shannon Leonard

"The dancing is so much fun," said Mercedes Pedraza, 8. " You learn how to dance and get to learn how to control your dancing."

The group went to Chuck E. Cheese Dec. 19 and then to the Orange Park Mall movie theater to see Alvin and the Chipmunks the next week.

Other activities also helped keep the kids busy over their Christmas breaks. The newly opened YAC has foosball, numerous video games, a new outside play area, computer room, arts and crafts and many other things.

Cameron Arthur, 9, liked the computer room the best. "I love playing on computers and there's a lot of stuff I know how to do on the computer, so it's really fun to me," he said.

Tom the Clown of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus helps Taylor Majda walk across a balancing beam. The circus will be at Veterans Memorial Arena Jan. 16-21. Photo by Shannon Leonard

Alannah Cloxton, 6, enjoyed the "teal" room. "You can dress up as whatever you like over your clothes," she said. Each classroom has a colored door that it is specified by a certain activity inside.

Sign ups will soon be taken for the YAC summer camp. For more information, please call 778-9772.

Megan Lee, a dance instructor from A Social Affair Dance Studio, leads the children from the Youth Activities Center through the warm-up at their dance lesson during the Holiday Camp. Photo by MC2(AW/NAC) Kaitlyn Patterson

Jayshun Johnson, 10, watches as Piper Treiman, 6, and Brandon Bui, 7, play a video game at Chuck E. Cheese while on a field trip with the Youth Activities Center. Photo by Megan Elliot

Mercedes Pedraza, 8, practices the waltz with Robbie Cox, a dance instructor from A Social Affair dance studio. The studio agreed to give the Youth Activities Center children free dance lessons during the holiday camp. Photo by MC2(AW/NAC) Kaitlyn Patterson