Sarah Creveling conducts 46th summer of S.H.I.P.

Since 1974, S.H.I.P. (Summer Happiness in Play), Mountain Brook Community Education’s longest-running program, has provided a place for Mountain Brook 4- through 7-year-olds to learn, be engaged and have fun. Former Mountain Brook Schools kindergarten teacher Sarah Creveling has been a part of the initiative every single year.

“The goal is first and foremost for the kids to have fun,” Creveling said. “And that’s done through a variety of ways.”

During two different week-long sessions in June, children come to Crestline Elementary School for three hours a day to play games, create crafts, enhance their creativity, hear fun and interactive stories and much more.

Each summer there is a theme for S.H.I.P., and it always pertains to something “ocean-related.” This summer Creveling took her sailors aboard S.H.I.P.’s boat, the “SS Happiness,” and set sail for Mobile Bay.

All week, participants learned about birds and fish near Mobile Bay. Crafts included drawing pelicans, and snacks included goldfish to symbolize fish in the southern Alabama waters. Rainbow cookies are a staple of S.H.I.P. and campers have enjoyed them for 46 summers.

Creveling retired from teaching kindergarten at Crestline in 2000. Her husband’s work as a lawyer took them to Atlanta and Oklahoma.

But Creveling still returned to Mountain Brook each summer for S.H.I.P.

“I thought it was important to come back and be a part of it, even when I was away,” Creveling said. “Plus, it is just so much fun.”

In the 1970s, Creveling was sent by the Junior League of Birmingham to a conference in San Antonio. It was there where she learned about “SAIL” (Summer Adventure in Learning), which was put on by a group of teachers.

Later on in Birmingham, Creveling was driving through Forest Park with her friend Lucia Chambers when they found a toy ship that was a sandbox.

The two friends asked the owner if they could buy it and to their surprise, the ship was not being used.

They took it and created the S.H.I.P. program. They partnered with Jim Felton, the head of Mountain Brook Community Education at the time.

The toy ship was housed at Brookwood Forest and then transferred to the location for the summer kids camp. S.H.I.P. began at the old Girl Scout House, the former home of Mountain Brook Community Education and was there for two years before moving to Mountain Brook Elementary for the next 18 years. In the following years, S.H.I.P. was held at different elementary schools.

Creveling remained a kindergarten teacher at Crestline until her retirement. Chambers became the children’s librarian at O’Neal Public Library. The two directed the program and others helped through the years, including Peggy Pate, Sally Baker, Rebecca Stivender, Edna Rush, Kaye Merritt, Connie Reich and Beth Otto.

The number of children who have been impacted by S.H.I.P. over the years is too high to count, but Creveling has had the opportunity to teach children and even some of those children’s parents through S.H.I.P.

COVID-19 put a halt on the program in 2020, but it was all aboard for 2021 as Creveling and her crew continued to make a positive impact for children in the Mountain Brook community.

– Submitted by William Galloway of Mountain Brook Schools and edited for length by the Village Living.