by Neil W. McCabe

The youth program sponsored by the West Somerville Church of the Nazarene will hold a carnival Aug. 7 on the grounds of the Davis Square church.

The carnival will raise money for both the church’s year-round youth programs and next year’s summer program, Wainwright Wint, the program’s director.

The carnival will have games, food and fun for all ages, including a moonwalk, said Wint, who is a junior studying psychology at Harvard University. There will also be clowns, magicians and karaoke.
This summer’s program started July 5 and will continue until Aug. 13, he said.

The youth program, which is open to all youth from ages 6-15 at no charge, opens every Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., he said.

Wint said he comes to work at 8:30 a.m. to set up the basketball court, the air hockey, pool and ping-pong tables, and the video games.

This was the first time Wint has worked with kids in a formal setting, so he approached it in a serious manner at first, he said.

Then, Rev. Mark Fowler, the church’s pastor, got him to relax, he said. “He told me to let go and have fun and make sure the kids had things to do to.”

During the first week of the program, Wint said only a few kids showed up, and he started to worry to Fowler that the program would not be successful. “He said: Watch. They would show up.”

Fowler was right, and some days up to 40 children have come by to take part in the activities, he said. The normal number is 20-25, and more than 75 different youths have participated in the program so far.

One of the program participants, Vladimar C. LaGuerre, 14, said it was his first year and he loved the great atmosphere and playing the video games.

“I love beating everybody at pool,” said Steca Thelemaque, 13, who heard about the program from his friend LaGuerre. He also loves the video games. Both said they are going to the carnival Aug 7.

Looking back on the summer, Wint said it is unfortunate that the program is only six weeks long, because it is such a positive contribution to the community. Next year, he hopes the program can be for the whole summer and find more space for even more activities.

Wint said he applied for the job after seeing the listing on craigslist.com.