We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristy Schena a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kristy, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
I am a speech language pathologist. I was working in a local hospital and was responsible for doing my own insurance checks for outpatient pediatric therapy. It was my first spring at the hospital and parents started calling about summer speech therapy. Services are provided by the local school districts but when summer comes those therapy services end. I was shocked to find out that most insurance companies did not provide these benefits. When I called the hospital billing department I found out that 15 minutes of therapy would cost the family $45. If you have a child with special needs, they often require more than one type of therapy (physical, occupational, speech) and an average session is 60 minutes. Most families that called could not afford these out of pocket expenses and therefore these children did not receive the continued services they needed to prevent the “summer slide”.
My colleagues and I first created a summer program based on the intermediate school districts program for children ages 3-6 with a camp fee. The feedback from families was they could not afford the camp tuition. I then created a scholarship based program where local businesses and private donors could “sponsor” a child to attend the summer multidisciplinary camp at no cost. Kids On The Go started that summer of 1999 with 13 children enrolled.
In 2008 I was the mom of an almost 3 year old and 20 month old twins. I was still working as a speech pathologist part time and wearing many hats for Kids On The Go (Exec Director, Development/Fundraising, Program Manager). My husband sat me down one evening and asked me to consider letting the nonprofit organization go because it took away so much time from our family. I asked for one more year to see the program celebrate 10 years and then find a way to close the program or find a successor. Within three months of our conversation, one of the twins, my son Luke, was diagnosed with Hypotonia and we became the parent of a child with special needs – whose physical therapy and braces for his legs were not covered by insurance. Kids On The Go would now be a part of my son’s journey and I was blessed with resources from the families who children I had served.
It was that same year that Kids On The Go established an advisory board and it was no longer a question if Kids On The Go would keep “going” but rather how we could keep it going to help more children.
In 2012, Kids On The Go became an independent 501c3. It would be the same year that my oldest son would be diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy. Again, I would walk in the same steps as so many of the families that I had worked with over the years. It was those parents that provided me resources and gave me the courage to face this new healthcare challenge.
Kids On The Go was provided a new opportunity in 2018. We moved into a former elementary school which became a nonprofit center and allowed us to start providing year round services. In 2023 we celebrated our 25th anniversary and proudly have provided more than 5000 scholarships through the years. Today we offer more than 50 programs in Metro Detroit and Traverse City.
My oldest is now a sophomore in college and my twins are preparing to go off to college this fall They are healthy and compassionate young adults. They have “grown up” with Kids On The Go. They embrace those who learn differently and have volunteered in various programs throughout the years.
Although I am not practicing in the field of speech-language pathology, I am grateful that my professional career led me to a another career in the nonprofit sector giving me the opportunity to serve children with special needs.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a Speech Language Pathologist and also the founder/executive director of a nonprofit organization, Kids On The Go. Kids On The Go is a free pediatric non-profit program designed to provide children with special needs (3-17 years) with physical, occupational, speech and recreational therapies both over the summer months and during the school year. The mission of Kids On The Go is to recognize and facilitate the goals of children with special needs and to further develop their current skills through therapeutic and wellness programs for the children and their families. Our vision is to provide a safe environment that will foster opportunities for growth, inclusion and provides valuable resources for our community.
Our programs include four areas of focus: Development, Fine/Performing Arts, Health & Wellness, STEM. Some of the classes offered include: multidisciplinary camps, Better Letters. Summer Sounds, Teens To Work, Independent Living, Toddlers at the Table, Social Skills Groups, Bucket Drumming and Music Therapy, Adaptive Dance and Adaptive Theater, Art Therapy, Legos/Robotics, Literacy. Communication, Cooking Adventures, Boxing, Flag Football, Little Sluggers, Golf, Tennis, Basketball, Cheerleading.
After celebrating our 25th year of service this past year, I am proud of the success stories that were shared. Campers that came to Kids On The Go when they were of preschool age for developmental delays and now in Law School, Nursing School, getting their first jobs, on the national archery team, crowned the Junior Club Golf Champion, etc. I am reminded about the “Why” when I am in the community and I see a current or former camper that comes running up to me to give me a hug or say hello.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Like everyone in 2020, Kids On The Go was forced to “pivot”. March 2020 we were faced with the reality that the programs our campers so desperately needed were not going to look the same. A colleague and myself decided to try the world of zoom with our social skills groups to keep them engaged and keep them “going” with so many of the skills that we had been working on with them. We quickly discovered that these middle school and high school aged children excelled on zoom and they began teaching us a few things. They were comfortable on the screen and the one hour session became something that we all looked forward to each week.
Because of the success we started working with staff and creating sessions for most of our programs that could be presented virtually. We moved our sports/wellness programs outdoors where social distancing could still be practiced but children were given opportunities to be active and move. We raised funds to refurbish outdoor basketball courts on our school property and painstakingly assigned footballs/basketballs by numbers to individuals and sanitized after each session. Instead of games/matches we practiced drills. Our cheerleaders used parking spaces to separate themselves safely from each other.
The summer of 2020 we held 42 virtual sessions and 9 in person/outside classes.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
I truly believe that “networking’ is the secret to success. Get involved in the community you live in- volunteer! Support the schools you previously attended, I currently serve on the Alumni Board at Michigan State University – College of Communication Arts & Sciences and joining the Board of my former High School this upcoming fall. I serve on a leadership council for Share Detroit and my husband and I are involved in many community organizations. Networking through these relationships has helped me to establish a strong administrative team, create a strong Board of Directors, gain support for the mission of Kids On The Go, and has provided me with life long relationships/friendships.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kidsonthegocamp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidsonthegocamp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kidsonthegocamp
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristy-schena-1b21b18/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KOTG2012
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KidsOnTheGocamp
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/65499377
Image Credits
images by Kristy Schena