“This is my second career after running a manufacturing business for 35 years,” Valk said. “It is so great and a perfect fit. I have enthusiasm for setting up projects for the kids each week.”
What she loves is conceiving a project that can be done in a short amount of time, often outdoors, then she prepares it for 60 kids.
“Sometimes I have more than 60 kids and my background in backpack manufacturing taught me to have everything organized,” she said. “Sometimes I make kits like the tower building challenge was sticks and rubber bands. They all get exactly the same thing. This Saturday, each kid will get one piece of watercolor paper.”
The painting project is more advanced and the parents of younger kids will need to help them while older students will learn from and come away with a project they’re happy with.
