The adage reads, “It takes a village to raise a child.” However, sometimes the efforts of the village are far too underutilized, maybe causing the village to wonder why they expend the effort or whether it’s worth it.

The answer to both of those questions is a resounding “yes.” If we’re expending the effort to create these opportunities, we’re making an investment in our young people and, in effect, an investment in our communities. The sad and frustrating thing is that many of the halls and arenas which hold these opportunities are far less than filled to capacity.

The local communities in which we live offer many opportunities for a cooperative effort to help our young people in many areas of their lives, i.e. their education, physical development, their musical, dance and artistic potential, their appreciation of nature and their interest in entertainment.

In the area of entertainment, there are a number of opportunities for young people to showcase their talent and learn preparedness, discipline, goal-setting, dedication and maybe even how to deal with adversity and disappointment as well. Our area offers many entertainment competitions and many opportunities to be parts of stage productions, but how many really take advantage of those opportunities? What holds back those who probably have the talent to be in a competition or a play but don’t kick that slightly ajar door wide open and storm into the challenge of being a part of that particular project? Maybe they just need someone to urge them a little more or to prod them a bit, reminding them that “nothing ventured is nothing gained.”

There are a number of community avenues that offer opportunities to try and improve and to excel in the musical field. First, our schools offer outstanding music programs and opportunities for youth to experience band, orchestra and choral settings. These programs are taught by experienced and talented personnel who are not only instructors and mentors – they are amazing performers themselves. Add to this the tremendous resource in our area called Infinity Visual and Performing Arts and look at how many wonderful programs are available through that program, along with the great instructors and mentors who are associated with that little part of our village. But how many take advantage of those resources? And how many great and talented youth have taken advantage of the wonderful dance teachers in the area, or have even questioned what Junior Guilders is all about?

So many young and older people have an interest in science and nature, and Chautauqua County offers numerous avenues for exploration of this interest and hobby. There are hiking trails throughout the county. There are Panama Rocks and Long Point State Park. There are science and nature centers, including the Roger Tory Peterson Institute and the Audubon Society. The Martz Observatory is available for those interested in the study of the stars and planets, and there are animal shelters and Cornell Cooperative Extension and 4-H opportunities throughout the area. But how many of those places and opportunities are utilized or well-attended?

As far as physical development opportunities, there are huge numbers of recreational league and travel sports teams. Experiences are available for kids from the ages of 5-18, and not just playing opportunities but also learning opportunities within the sports through camps and clinics at little or no cost. These experiences are not only offered to the participants of those sports, but to the coaches as well. Unfortunately, many I have attended or of which I’ve been a part, draw far less than the audience.

Have you seen the umpteen educational opportunities offered throughout the area? All of the science and nature opportunities also fit this area of discussion. Many of them are held with too many empty seats as they happen. There are programs offered through Jamestown Community College, SUNY Fredonia, Chautauqua Striders, The Boys’ and Girls’ Club and the YMCA – and many are often underutilized. There’s Chautauqua Institution, which offers historic, cultural, literary and artistic opportunities to everyone in this county and beyond. There are things happening at the Fenton History Center there are historical aspects in most of the area’s cemeteries. Our area has connections to people who have come from this area and later found themselves in much larger “theaters” and settings, some even on and in national and even international stages or arenas.

One of these local centers of education with which I’m associated as a volunteer is the Robert H. Jackson Center, which offers program after program connected with the legacy of Justice Robert H. Jackson. Born near Warren, Pennsylvania, having grown up in Frewsburg and graduated from both Frewsburg and Jamestown high schools, Jackson, after one year at the Albany School of Law, passed the Bar Exam and went on to serve as United States solicitor general. Later, he served as U.S. attorney general and then justice of the United States Supreme Court and was selected to be chief prosecutor at the International Court at Nuremberg, which tried more than 20 perpetrators accused of war crimes of the Holocaust.

One of the projects with which I’m involved is the Young Readers’ Program, where we bring in award-winning authors who have written books which involve an area of Jackson’s legacy and life, or books about Jackson himself. We invite area schools who have read the books with their classes to come and hear a presentation by the author and participate in a question-and-answer session with the author. An essay contest on the chosen book is held in conjunction with the visit by the author, and the winners of that contest are invited to have dinner with the author and be recognized by those who attend the program. The committee who plans and implements this program has begun to select novels which touch upon Jackson’s legacy. They are also part of the Common Core Learning Standards, trying to lend a hand to educators and give students another avenue with which to achieve the goals set by the state Department of Education. Attendance at this program has varied since the program began. One year, we had nearly 1,500 in the audience – an amazing number though it wasn’t quite enough to top the 2,000 students who recently attended a local hockey game as a school day field trip.

Now, please don’t get the wrong idea. I think social field trips are hugely important. For many students in attendance, this was probably the first and maybe the only hockey game they have ever or will ever attend. I used to take my class to a professional baseball game every year, and the looks on the faces of a large majority of those students were priceless. The game was always packaged with visits to a rainforest exhibit, zoo or science center featuring an amazing educational movie in an Omnimax Theater. I do not chastise anyone giving kids social and educational opportunities, which help them with behavior skills in public settings, further helping to make them more well-rounded people, not just students. After all, “The function of school is not to help kids do well in school. The function of school is to help kids to do well in life,” said Elliot Eisner.

So, back to the title and questions at the beginning of this narrative: the villages have opened their arms and doors to help schools, parents and students, and all they’re hoping for is that people show up and take advantage of what they’re offering as their part in helping raise our children. If one child can benefit from any program, the success is huge. Imagine how much bigger they would be with packed houses.