TWO North Vancouver moms have joined forces to offer interactive superhero-inspired programming to local children with an interest in increasing their self-esteem, resilience and compassion.
Yaz Wallace and Jennifer Farrell recently launched the Powa Academy, which offers after school camps, birthday parties, team-building workshops and community events. With the support of educators, child specialists and moms, programming is designed to combine play and physical activity with lessons about ethical behaviour.
The women were inspired to launch the academy following the success of a joint superhero-themed birthday party they hosted for their four-year-old sons in November 2012, seeing how the theme resonated with those in attendance and how much fun the guests - children and parents - had together.
"When you're connecting with your kids on a play level, on their level, you connect with them in a way that they understand and you become their hero. Really we want the children to be their own heroes, but also look at their parents and see that they're heroes also," says Wallace.
They were further inspired by the children's stories Wallace wrote recreationally some 15 years ago, outlining basic human needs and intending to impart life skills and tools to help kids be happier and more self-assured.
The academy speaks to their interest in creating community for themselves and their children, ensuring they have a good support system, says Wallace.
As their children are getting older, they're realizing more and more the importance of having them feel connected, and having the confidence to do whatever it is that they want to do, adds Farrell.
Powa is an acronym for Play On With Awareness. "It is a personal awareness that you affect everything around you and that you're the source of everything in your life and if you learn that a younger age I think you become more conscious of the people around you," says Wallace.
The inaugural Powa Academy after school camps, eight weeks in duration, will launch April 24. The Junior - Super-Powa Kids session for children ages four to six will run from 3: 30 to 5 p.m., and the Senior - SuperPowa Kids session for children ages seven to nine will run from 5: 30 to 7 p.m. Both will be held at Lynnmour/Jay-cee House. Weekly curriculums will focus on a different theme, like kindness, courage or honesty and registrants will engage in related games and activities.
Birthday parties are also available, custom-designed for each child, as well as teambuilding workshops for sports teams or community groups, designed to bring more camaraderie and get the teams working more effectively together.
As part of their programming, Wallace and Farrell intend to host community events and they're presenting their first, the Superhero Easter Egg Hunt, Saturday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Princess Park (Princess Avenue and Wellington Drive) in North Vancouver. Guests of all ages are encouraged to dress as their favourite superhero and there will be prizes for the best family of superheroes as well as for most original costume.
"There's something empowering about being out in a costume and showing everybody who you are, bringing your power to it, whatever it may be, if it's kindness or compassion or you're really fast or you have amazing eyesight," says Wallace.
Other festivities will include face painting, games, snacks, colouring activities and a "special" surprise guest. It's free to attend, though participants are encouraged to bring non-perishables for the Harvest Project, speaking to Wallace and Farrell's intention for each of their community events to speak to a different "Super-Powa mission."
"We'll have a series of them," says Farrell. "We're just going to call out to the community every once and a while and basically invite people to come and help us do something and this is our first one."
For more information on Powa Academy programs and costs, visit superpowa.com.
