The Chesterton-Porter Rotary Club, in conjunction with United Way’s Success by 6 program and the Chesterton Park Board, cut the ribbon Tuesday to launch the Dan Keilman Born Learning Trail.

The Trail, located in Chesterton’s Dogwood Park, helps parents, grandparents and caregivers turn their trips to the park into fun and active learning moments.

The Born Learning Trail consists of ten stations with different activities designed to prompt caregivers’ interaction with children to boost language and literacy development in an outdoor setting. At each station, children are encouraged to interact with their environment and with their companions and become physically and mentally active.

The Dan Keilman Born Learning Trail is named in honor of Dr. Dan Keilman, a member of the Chesterton-Porter Rotary Club and a lifelong educator in the Duneland community.

Dr. Keilman, a former teacher and principal in the Duneland School Corporation, helped introduce the Parents As Teachers program into the Duneland Schools. Parents as Teachers is an international early childhood parent education and family support program which promotes family involvement in the early childhood learning process. Porter County PAT is a supporting member of the Born Learning Trail. For more information on PAT, visit www.duneland.k12.in.us/programs/pat or e-mail pat@duneland.k12.in.us of phone (219) 983-3640.

Rotary is an international service organization of more than one million members worldwide whose motto is “Service Above Self.” The Chesterton-Porter Rotary Club meets on Tuesdays at 11:45 a.m., at the Library Service Center in Chesterton, 100 W. Indiana Avenue.

United Way’s Success By 6 program is the nation’s largest network of early childhood coalitions focused on boosting school readiness.

Posted 10/13/2011