Queen Elizabeth didn’t make an appearance at Oak Grove Elementary School’s “Summer Olympic Village,” but several hundred kids from the North Clackamas area had an opportunity last week to participate in a variety of events in the spirit of the London games currently in progress.

Children from five Metropolitan Family Service schools’ summer programs came together on Thursday, Aug. 2. Rowe Middle School, along with Linwood, Lot Witcomb, Oak Grove and Lewelling elementary schools, each represented a continent, with countries individually represented by classroom.

Events included three-legged relay races, tug-of-war and bouncy-castle basketball.

Businesses and nonprofit service providers also volunteered cultural cuisine, resources and other giveaways in what was dubbed the “Olympic Village.”

“This is so much fun to be a part of, and a whole lot better than hanging out with my family,” said Meliza Pablo-Lora, who with fellow Linwood fifth grader Miranda Dire-Johnson helped organize flag-making activities at their elementary school.

“At school for the past four weeks, we practiced everything we needed to do, and we’ve all been trying to support each other through the training process,” said Dire-Johnson.

In the tug-of-war competition, a Linwood classroom representing Scotland fell in the quarterfinal tug against Lewelling Elementary students representing Morrocco. With the home-turf advantage, Oak Grove Elementary students representing Japan then out-pulled Lewelling to become tug-of-war champions.

“They did a soccer match this spring, and this is a fun follow-up event for kids to interact,” said Pat Kaczmarek, spokeswoman for Metropolitan Family Services.

Metropolitan Family Services runs what are called Children and Family Enrichment after-school and summer programs to provide opportunities to experience reading, writing, sports, art and math. CAFE activities this summer ran Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“If I stayed home, I’d just have to hang out with my mom, who’s taking care of my sick 7-and-a-half-year-old brother,” said fourth grader Keli Mireles after enjoying a raucous game of basketball.

Also helping with the project, AmeriCorps member Chelsea Lamb was recently chosen as an Oregon Champion during the Summer Olympics to highlight local champions who are making an impact in local communities. The five schools involved receive federal funding as Title I schools with a higher proportion of students living in poverty.

“That’s where we have a lot of our focus is in those higher-poverty neighborhoods, because it can lead to bad things if kids aren’t supervised after school,” Kaczmarek said. “We see a lot of improvement in their school performance if they’re part of our program.”