This week we had nine teens complete the UPS Road Code class pledging that they will be safe drivers as well as practice their driving on simulators set up in our building. Below is an informative movie about what UPS Road Code is. Click on this link:UPS Road Code to learn more!
On August 20th at 4:30 pm, the West Side Boys and Girls Club held their annual Back to School Night at the club. When members and parents came, we first had members fill out their academic goals for the year and pledge to be a part of Power Hour, Goals for Graduation, and share copies of their report cards with us to help them succeed.
The Augustana Church came and donated their time to interviewing our members about their academic goals as well as supplied 100 backpacks so tha each member could be prepared for school. The volunteers from Augustana Church also helped each member choose their backpack and make sure it was filled with school supplies.
In the games area, parents and members could sign up for several Fall Programs being offered and we had a booth from the West Summit School as well.
We followed the evening up with a huge thank you to Augustana Church for their constant support of our organization and members. We then shared in conversation and a hot meal prepared by our very own Branch Director, John Hardeman.
Thanks to all the staff that also dedicated their time and committment to making this event a success!
On August 21st, we had the honor of attending the Youth Apprenticeship and Career Launch Program Banquet. I have had the privilege to work with these remarkable teens as they entered the workplace sharing their struggles and challenges along the way. We had teens that were employed through the Right Track Program. These teens were stationed at several local businesses and organizations auch as the West Side Boys and Girls Club, Youth Farm, Serenity House, Neighborhood House, Torie House, The Taste of Love Bakery and the YMCA.
In the Career Launch Program, I met with these teens once a week for two hours where we worked on creating career portfolios that included resume writing, cover letter writing, as well as participating in mock interviews.
As part of the banquet, these youth shared with the audience where they worked, their goals, and how they accomplished these in the workplace.
Overall, it was a fabulous process to be a part of! Great job youth workers!
Dianna Gadea has been a wonderful addition to our team and we have had the privilege of having her work for us through the Youth Apprenticeship Program. Dianna is a senior at Open World Learning School this fall. She has proven herself to be a versatile employee.
One of her many positions at the West Side Boys and Girls Club was the Membership Secretary Assistant. In this role, she scanned in membership cards, greeted members and parents as they came in, checked in members' bags and kept the office neat and clean. If Dianna was not behind the front desk, you could find her creatiing an engaging art project with the K-3 Stars members or helping members through guided reading instruction.
No matter what I needed Dianna to do, she always did so in a professional courteous manner. Thank you, Dianna for your flexibility and service to the club. We will miss you.
This week we had to say our goodbyes to our wonderful college intern, Megan Gruenke as she prepares to head back to University of Wisconsin-Stout. She has been a great addition to our team this summer providing engaging art projects our Stars (K-3) as well as to our teens.
Megan has shown great leadership, innovation and creativity in her instruction to our youth, and was well liked by all. She had a very caring and passionate deameanor when working with our members and always willing to lend a helping hand.
Whether it was working with the Stars (K-3) in a guided reading activity or playing an educational board game with our members, she took the time to get to know each member she worked with.
Because of your dedication, hard work, and enthusiasm, we would like to say thank you for all that you have done for us and congratulate you on being chosen the August Volunteer of the Month! We will miss you dearly and hope to see you visit us soon!
Last Friday was our End of the Summer Celebration at the West Side Boys and Girls Club. The members had a water balloon fight and ran through the sprinklers. Even the staff joined in. It was fun to see the members having fun and being carefree.
We then took on the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that was given to us from the Mount Airy Boys and Girls Club. Members and our Branch Director, John Hardemen, were doused with ice cold water from a huge powerade receptacle. Below is the video!
Can't wait to see all of your smiling faces when we open September 2nd! We will miss you!
This past weekend, four of our members from the West Side Boys and Girls Club had the opportunity to attend the second preseason Vikings Game at the TCF Stadium in Minneapolis. Coretta Bieter, Xavier Latimer-Storay, Maria Centeno, and Lupe Tovalin had a great time. What a great opportunity for our members!
Our college intern, Megan Gruenke, created an engaging project for our teens called inspirational pallet making. Teens chose a quote or saying for their pallet and then wrote it on the wood with a sharpie marker. Then, these words were carved into the wood. Tomorrow they will paint the letters and be able to hang these on display. Thank you, Megan for your creativity and innovation in engaging our teens!
Our first annual Staff vs. Member Basketball Game was a huge success. For members aged K-6, we started with a dribbling relay and the winners received prizes. Our staff had to dribble with their non dominant hand, and the members won!!
Next, staff challenged the members to an exciting basketball game. Our staff member team consisted of Matt Harrity, Rudy Lugo, Teria Masterjohn, Xavier Storay, Nolan Santosa, Domonick Fields and Crystal Bieter. Once the game started, the crowd cheered on their favorite team and active participation was encouraged. Members even made signs to suppport their favorite team. To our amazement, the staff ended up winning this game, but fun was had by all. Members are excited for a rematch and a chance to win the title.
As we are ending our Summer Programming, we are looking forward to the Fall. Next week, the club will be closed from August 22nd-September 2nd for staff development and building cleaning.
Following this, we will reopen and offer several different programs for our members. Please come to our Back to School Night August 20th from 4:30-7 pm and sign up for the programs above.
If you need a ride to the club after school, and you attend a Saint Paul Public School, please fill out the forms attached here and turn it in to us at the front desk and we will make sure that your school gets this and makes this correction: Saint Paul Public School Transportation Waiver.
If you are at the Al Lenzmeier's West Side Boys and Girls Club, please take some time to introduce yourself to our new Education Director Samantha Hausker. Samantha came to us by way of volunteering with our members. She was a very dedicated and passionate volunteer who spent five hours each day interacting with our members in meaningful ways and we look forward to now having her as a productive member of our staff.
Samantha Hausker is a student at the University of Minnesota who is seeking a degree in Family Social Sciences. Her expertise in creating creative and innovative lessons for our members is one of her biggest strengths.
We look forward to her joining our team and supporting our members in 4th through 6th grade. Samantha will be responsible for several programs this year such as our Goals for Graduation, Smart Girls, Netsmartz and Club Tech Programs this Fall. To enhance the technological needs of our members, she will aso be offering computer coding classes for those who are interested in creating video production and animation.
We welcome her to our club and we are lucky to have her.
Thanks to KPMG Minneapolis for not only donating books to our STARS program, but taking the time to read to our STARS (Striving to Achieve Reading Success) members! We greatly appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to visit us and impact our members.
Our Stars members (aged K-3) had the wonderful opportunity to visit our Boys and Girls Club of the Twin Cities Camp today for a day trip. Camp Voyageur is located 45 minutes out of the city in Mound, MN.
The STARS from Mount Airy and the West Side Club spent the day going on Nature Walks, learning how to canoe, and playing camp games.
This was a geat day had by all. Thank you to our junior staff, Dianna Gadea, our STARS Coordinator Teria Masterjohn, our Education Director Samantha Hausker and our college intern Megan Greunke for supervising this event.
This past Friday our members had the privilege to participate in the Coca-Cola and West Side Boys and Girls Club World Cup Soccer Day. Coca-Cola and their volunteers created a day filled with soccer drills followed up with a soccer tournament that all members participated in.
Members had the chance to have individualized instruction on dribbling and passes and to make sure that they were hydrated, Coca-Cola made sure that there was ample supplies of water and Powerade available.
After the drills and tournament was done, members were served a wonderful barbecue lunch with hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, baked beans and a cookie. After they had a chance to eat we followed this up with a raffle that all members participated in to receive powerade water bottles, towels, bracelets, jerseys and miniature soccer balls.
Thank you Coca-Cola for your generous donations of time, service and supplies. Your continued partnership with us is greatly appreciated.
National Night Out has always been a wonderful community event at the West Side Boys and Girls Club, and this year's celebration did not dissapoint. On August 5th from 4-7 pm, we closed our doors and moved our members outside for a Carnival themed party. Members had the chance to participate in several carnival games such as the Club House Bouncy House, fishing for prizes, golf pool, duck pond, ball toss and cake walk. All of these games gave members and theur families prizes and our members even took time earlier in the week to bake the cakes for our cake walk.
One of our past club members provided the music for the event and even played some of his own original music. We had the privilege to watch our very own club members perform their Mexican Dance for the audience and they did a fabulous job entertaining the crowd.
Many of our parent volunteered their services to help feed everyone that came out for this celebration. We served popcorn, snow cones, chicken enchiladas, barbecued chicken, pasta and salad.
We ended our celebration with a raffle that all families could participate in and have the chance to win two brand new bikes, as well as other toys.
Another great event. Thank you for celebrating with us and hope to see you next year!
Members this summer have been participating in our 8 week Career Launch Class that focuses on resume writing, cover letter writing, career exploration and interview skills. This week, the focus was on what to wear and how to present themselves during an interview. We also focused on specific interview questions and had members circle which ones might be the hardest for them to answer. Once we did that, members chose two peers to interview them and assess their skills by way of a rubric. Overall, members did an excellent job and I feel they are prepared to enter any interview with confidence and ease. Below are some photos taken from this breakout session.
Starting next week, our intern Megan, will be helping those teens interested create an inspirational word pallet.
If interested, let us know. We have the materials and you will supply the creativity. Each person will receive a wooden pallet that you will sand and paint. Next, you will decide on the letters and even have those letters engraved.
This is a unique piece of art that you can display in your room or even give as a gift!
Thank you, Megan for creating this fun art activity for our teens that is age appropriate and fun.
Today at the club, there were many different activities taking place. In the games room, Matt Harrity had many games planned and even took the members out for a game of soccer.
In the morning, a few members helped our Staff Samantha Hausker and our Junior Staff Xavier Storay make cupcakes for our Cake Walk at National Night Out.
Many of the teens were busy playing ping pong as well as working on applying for jobs to the Minnesota State Fair as well as working on creating their resumes on careerlaunch.net.
Laura Reyes, and her daughter Holly worked on preparing our members for their Mexican Dance that they will perform at National Night Out.
In the STARS room, members were huddled up together enjoying a movie.
