Members had the Opportunity to see Usher!

Members had the wonderful opportunity to See Usher in concert this Tuesday.  Usher, being a club kid alumni, gave the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities 220 free tickets to see his show. Members had a fantastic time.  Thank you to Teria Masterjohn and Samantha Hausker for transporting and chaperoning our members at this event.

Join Us for our Annual Thanksgiving and Recognition Dinner

On Tuesday, November 25th, the Al Lenzmeier West Branch Boys & Girls Club will be celebrating our Annual Thanksgiving and Awards Dinner.  Social hour will begin at 5:00 pm where our guests can participate in Turkey Bingo and enjoy some horderves served by the members of our Keystone.

At 5:30 pm we will begin the program where we will introduce our Keynote Speaker, Enrique (Cha-Cho) Estrada who not only happens to be a club alumni himself, but a former Boys & Girls Club employee, and most recently works in youth development on the West Side.

After our Keynote Speaker, our STARS Coordinator, Teria Masterjohn and our Education Director, Samantha Hausker will begin our night by showcasing our Thanksgiving Play which will be performed by our members.

Once the play is finished, we will recognize our volunteers as well as several awards to members in the following categories: Rising Stars Award (Given to STARS who Achieve in Tumblebooks), Members of the Month, Soccer Medals and Awards, Keystone Officer Awards, Camp Camera Awards and Attendance Awards.

Next, we will be serving a beautifully prepared Thanksgiving dinner with all of the fixings.  A special thanks to Augustana Church for donating the food and preparing our Thanksgiving dinner and setting up our tables for our guests.

After dinner, we will continue turkey raffles and Turkey Bingo.  Overall, this night will prove to be one that highlights the achievements of our wonderful members and volunteers as well as a time to share our thankfulness with our friends, family and community.  Look forward to seeing you all.

Staff Development

Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to have all Education Directors and STARS Coordinators of the Twin Cities Boys & Girls Club meet, collaborate and discuss best practices in education.

Colleagues had the chance to share their best practices in education in regards to ways that they showcase involvement, academic success, incentive building, engagement, routines/expectations, and marketing and recruitment of members.

Colleagues then looked at the programs that they teach, and created two S.M.A.R.T goals that focus on meaningful assessment and instruction.

I was fortunate to be able to facilitate this workshop and was proud of all of the creative and innovative staff we have here at the Boys % Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities.

Look forward to the next meeting.

Camp CAMERA girls published in the MAC Weekly Newspaper

This past week, members at the West Side Boys and Girls Club who have been participating in our Camp CAMERA class were busy preparing two photos: one for print and one for digital print for the Mac Weekly, which is the Macalester College Newspaper.

The girls were very excited to have this unique opportunity to be posted in the newspaper and each girl will be given actual newspapers to pass out to family and friends.  Here is the link to the online newspaper piece featuring Camp Camera: Camp Camera Featured Story

Exposure // Camp Camera

By The Mac Weekly

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Camp CAMERA

This week, the members involved in Camp CAMERA had the chance to learn about and work in the dark room at Macalester College.  These members then applied the information they learned  by choosing different materials to put on special photography paper and used the chemicals to project these images on paper.

After they completed this, members had the chance to receive their own cameras and take pictures throughout the campus.  Members then worked on editing their pictures using iphoto editing software.

Max Guttman, our Camp CAMERA college intern, then spoke to our members about digital photography used in print as well as for websites.  Members were then told to choose one of their photos that will be featured in the Macalester Newspaper.  I am pleased to report that all of these members will have a featured spot in the newspaper and will be published photographers.  Members will also  receive as many copies of the newspaper  as they want to pass out to friends and family.

Next week, members will continue to edit pictures that they will feature at our Thanksgiving Dinner and Recognition Awards Ceremony at the West Side Boys and Girls Club on November 25th. Members will also be working on heir artist statements and deciding which photographs they would like to include in their books that will be presented to them at the dinner.

I am very proud of the creativity, innovation and dedication these members have shown to this program this fall and look forward to seeing their final projects.

The West Side Boys & Girls Club Takes a Creative Approach in Combating the Issue of Bullying

As part of a contest for Youthprise, our members at the Al Lenzmeier West Side Boys & Girls Club have put together a video that looks at the issues of bullying and how our club makes a difference. Each member that participated in this video found one bullying passage that they felt was powerful, explained what the passage meant, and then explained how our club creates a safe and healthy environment that not only combats bullying but embraces diversity and individuality.  This video was created, produced and written by our youth.  Great job!