After School Program
“Rivers flow not past, but through us; tingling, vibrating, exciting every cell & fiber in our bodies, making them sing and glide.”
-John Muir
The Columbia Room is where our After School 5-12-year-olds are guided in finding their way on their journey to infinite greatness, just as our beautiful Columbia Lake is the beginning of the Columbia River’s journey from our mountains to the greatness of the Pacific Ocean. The Columbia and Kootenay Rivers directly contributed to the naming of our home, connected once again in the 1880s by a canal dug through the flats; Canal Flats. History of the Columbia sustaining human life goes far beyond when our settler’s modified the land for their own gains though, Ktunaxa creation myths state that their people were created by the Quilxka Nupika (supreme being) and have always lived in the region; one reads “I have created you Kootenai people to look after this beautiful land, to honor and guard and celebrate my Creation here.” And they have been here for millennia since, teaching all those who are open to honor and protect this land. Just as we guide the children in our care to love, guard and preserve the nature that surrounds us here.
