The Evergreen Terrace area office provides more than children's fun - it's a facility for the entire community

"Coyotes! Aaaoooooooo!"

"Cheetahs! Rrrroooaaarrr!"

"Jabba-jabbarooooooooo!"

The battle cries rang out loudly after the three tribes selected their team names. Then, they began painting one another's faces in the tribal colors and symbols. Soon, each face in the room was splashed with blue lightning bolts, black cheetah spots and whiskers, or the letters 'JR' and a set of black and red stripes.

As more and more children showed up, they were quickly assigned to a tribe and their faces were painted to make them an official team member.

Soon after, the groups set to work at their tribal flags, hoping to receive the coveted 'tatikitiki torch' for doing the best job.

Last Friday, the Pulse had the opportunity to visit the Evergreen Terrace Family Housing area office and watch one of the activity programs offered to the children who live there.

Friday's program had a "Survivor" theme, and future programs planned are "March Madness," "Pot of Gold Week" for St. Patrick's Day, as well as "Spring Fever" and "Foolish April."

Evergreen Terrace provides family housing for SIU students. To live there, at least one member of the family must be enrolled in school, and they must be a married couple or a single parent with children.

There are 304 two- and three-bedroom apartments that house a very diverse population; the residents of Evergreen Terrace represent almost 40 different countries.

In conjunction with several other campus and community organizations, the Evergreen Terrace area office provides not only programs for children but for the entire family.

"We try to provide programs for all ages - social, recreational and developmental programs," said Jamie Corr, a community aide who has been involved with Evergreen Terrace since 1987.

"We try to provide a network for residents to help people learn about the Carbondale community and what's available for them," she said.

Working with the SIU Adult Education and Development Center, they offer English classes for adults and children, with the center providing teachers and the area office providing the space. They offer a baby talk program with the Unity Point schools for mothers with children up to age 3. Also available are sports programs and cooking classes. Corr and her workers are also involved with campus Girl Scouts, which range from 4th-graders to college students.

Another group the office is involved with is the Recreation 302 classes at SIU. After observing a few times, the students actually work at Evergreen Terrace on Fridays for the last half of the semester, planning programs and carrying them out with the children.

When the recreation students aren't doing the programs, the student workers and other volunteers help out. The area office provides jobs for 18 student workers and recreation majors finishing up their field work.

Sheree Mayfield, an employee at the area office who planned the "Survivor" program, said that at a meeting at the beginning of the semester, each worker signs up to do a Friday program, and there is a lot of work involved in each program.

Corr said the activity of programming events is a valuable tool for the workers. They must be totally prepared and have everything planned out, from the supplies to the implementation of the event, as well as the evaluation of the program.

"It's a complete experience; something that would be done in any job, whether it's planning a meal or a major proposal for a company," Corr said.

Besides Friday programs, staffers are at the area office six days a week, helping with homework and providing activities during the week and offering a sports enrichment and movie time on Saturday.

The staff at Evergreen Terrace is like a family, Corr said, working together and supporting one another. Though many are recreation majors, her workers come from all different majors and backgrounds.

"I strive for diversity in my staff - older, younger, international students and varying majors," Corr said. "The staff is as diverse as the population we work for."

Much support for the programs comes from the University Housing office and Student Affairs Council, and a fee of $3 a month, charged to all Evergreen Terrace residents, provides funding, along with donations of time and supplies. Corr also calls herself "the recycling queen of Southern Illinois," a person who tries to make a nickel turn into a dollar.

In the future, she would like to see a group started for single parents, but the problem is that most single parents don't have a lot of time to spare.

The people who have the roughest time at Evergreen Terrace, Corr said, are the children. With their parents trying to go to school as well as work and raise a family, many residents' lives are full of responsibilities.

"We try to keep them busy and happy. This is their neighborhood and where they're going to live their childhood," Corr said. "We're trying to make good memories for them."

The children seem to have a great time during the programs, too. They tend to become very loud, filling the small room with their yells and running around with so much energy the workers can't always keep up.

"I just moved here in December, and it's a lot of fun," said Shanophia, 12.

The students enjoy working with the children, as well. Matt Scott, a recreation major completing his field work, has worked at the office for two months and said he loves it. "I'm having a ball," he said as his coyote tribe encircled him for the first game.

After completing a game where one teammate had to help a blindfolded teammate find food hidden in the room, the children made snacks of trail mix, 'road kill bars' and 'ants on a log.' The other games played that day stressed teamwork, with a team crabwalk and team walkers - planks of wood with ropes tied to them.

In the end, the coyote tribe was chosen as the team displaying the most teamwork and won the "tatikitiki torch."

The employees and the children at the Evergreen Terrace area office work together to learn and play, having a terrific time while doing it.

"I love my job. I absolutely love it. You can't lose at a job where you're making people happy," Corr said.

For more information on programs available through Evergreen Terrace, call the area office at 453-7652.