Make this a “Kid Weekend” if Possible

 

All week there have been special activities at Club locations and we love showcasing our work—thanks to everyone who dropped by and/or got engaged through social media—if you have any questions or comments please send those our way.

Great Futures Start Here!

Many organizations like ours have a specific day, week and/or event to put an emphasis on kids somehow…and that will continue…but maybe there is another angle.  How about we informally declare this a “Kid Weekend” and ask everyone to do something different/extra with your children?  Or, if you don’t have any kids, then how about constructively engaging one or more some other way?  Maybe you have a niece or nephew, or the neighbor has a son or daughter, whatever he case may be…play a game with them or have an intentional conversation to see how they are doing.  If nothing else just greet the kids you see in the grocery store with a warm smile and say hello…they will appreciate it.

If anyone wants to share their “Kid Weekend” story with us we would love to hear them—post it as a comment to this blog—it would be really cool to get a lot of them.  Hope to hear from you!

John

Staying Healthy at the Club

Would you consider your lifestyle healthy? If you answered “Yes!”…I bet most of you would immediately think about  food or your daily diet! Well, you are partly correct! It IS healthy to feed your body “good stuff”…makes sense…”Good in…Good out”!

Club Members Staying Active on the Climbing Wall

If you ask a Boys & Girls Club member who participates in the Healthy Habits program, she or he will tell you that getting 5 fruits and vegetables in every day is amazingly good for your body to work well. At the Club, “taste tests” and cooking clubs provide hands-on opportunities for kids and parents to try out new foods and recipes that are not only good for you…but fun to eat, too! Healthy Habits participants also learn that protein, like lean meat, beans, nuts, greek yogurt is the fuel that your body needs…and they learn that you should watch out for sugar…there’s lots of sugar in candy, snacks as well as your soda and sugary drinks…water is your best hydration!!

But Club kids know that diet is only part of being healthy…Sleep is super important…9 hours is recommended for your brain and body to work properly! Club programs like Triple Play explain just how important a good night’s sleep is to optimize your performance – both in school and athletics.

Limiting your “screen time” is also a healthy move on your part…we know that a total of 2 hours a day is tops! Don’t forget that’s TV, video games, computer, etc….you get the picture, right ? That’s why at the Club, kids rotate to a new activity every hour.

So what to do with your free time?

MOVE!!! The healthy lifestyle we want for you includes exercise and activity…just 30 minutes every day of some form of activity is really important. The Boys & Girls Club’s summer soccer and baseball programs and SPARK active recreation curriculum are just a few ways that the Club keeps kids and teens engaged in active lifestyles. If it isn’t some type of sport… bike, walk, run…just get moving! No matter what your interest – whether it’s breakdancing or rock wall climbing or skateboarding – the Boys & Girls Club offers something to keep everyone active and moving.

You have 23 ½  hours left of your day  And, you’ll feel great! Let’s use it, take care of ourselves, and enjoy all that life has to offer!

 

Sandy Treichel, RN

Bellin Health

Health and Wellness Coach

Developing Youth to Help Others at The Club

Jerry Smyth- Board President, Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay

Many factors influence success.  Intelligence, integrity, education, work ethic, luck, desire to succeed all matter.  Many successful people have some or all of these attributes; the attribute I believe successful people invariably share is good personal character.

Teens Volunteering at Habitat for Humanity ReStore

Good personal character is about doing the right thing when pressure exists to do otherwise.  It is about thinking of others and the impact our actions might have on them; it is about accountability for what we do; it is about standing for things we believe, even if the position is unpopular.  Good personal character comes with hard work—it must originate with thinking about others, and must involve actions directed at others.  Good personal character does not ask “what is in it for me”, but “how can I help you?”.

The Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay offers countless opportunities for club members to develop good personal character.  The club exists to help prepare children for adulthood, and does a wonderful job reminding members that club benefits imply a reciprocal arrangement: we will help you help yourself, and we will expect you to help others.  This principal of accountability is evident in many programs and in daily expectations for the members.

The Million Members, Million Hours initiative, the Keystone Club involvement in numerous civic events, the youth gardening programs, to name a few, all reinforce the social requirement that we consider others.  Initiatives like these also help to dislodge the possibility of dependency and expectation that benefits can magically appear without effort.  We give, we get; we get, we must give.  The club nurtures kids with opportunities to learn this valuable lesson, and in the process, to develop good personal character.  With it every kid has a fighting chance to succeed.

The Club Keeps Kids Safe On & Offline

Talk with your Child about proper Internet use.

While the Internet undeniably offers a wealth of information and convenient services, it also offers an equal number of scams, phishing schemes, malware, cyber bullies, and online predators as well as obscene and offensive content.  In the past it was advised to simply install some virus protection, set some parental controls and monitor your child’s online activity by keeping the family computer in a common area of the home where the screen can be easily seen.  Unfortunately, this is no longer good enough.

With the explosion of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks, etc. children now have the ability to access the Internet and each other discretely at anytime and from virtually anywhere.  So what do we as parents do?  We must have an open and candid conversation with our children about the online dangers that exist and resist the thought that “It can’t possibly happen to my child”.  The sad truth is that thousands of children from all walks of life become victims of Internet crimes every year.

If you still don’t think it can happen to your child, here are some statistics from National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that may convince you:

Cyberbullying

• 1 in 3 teens (12-17) have experienced online harassment
• Girls are more likely to be victims of cyberbullying (38% girls vs. 26% boys)

Predators

• 1 in 25 youths receive an online sexual solicitation where the solicitor tried to make offline contact
• In more than one-quarter (27%) of incidents, solicitors asked youths for sexual photographs of themselves

Social Networking

• 73% of teens (12-17) have profiles on social networking sites
• 47% of teens (12-17) have uploaded photos; 14 % have posted videos
• In 82% of online sex crimes against minors, the offender used the victim’s social networking site to gain information about the victim’s likes and dislikes
• 26% of online sex offenders used the victim’s social networking site to gain information about the victim’s whereabouts at a specific time

Here at the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay we run the NetSmartz program every Tuesday in our Education Rooms.  The NetSmartz Workshop is an interactive, educational program of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that provides age-appropriate resources to help teach children how to be safer on and offline.  NetSmartz utilizes videos, online games, activity cards, and presentations to educate children on how to lead a safer online life.

Even though Club members receive online safety education, it is equally important to take time at home to explain to your children that their Internet use is not a right but a privilege.  With the privilege of internet use come certain expectations and responsibilities for knowing acceptable online behavior.  Emphasize that you know you can count on them to use the Internet responsibly and it is your job as a parent to be involved with their online life to help keep them safe.

The following are resources to help protect you and your family from online dangers:

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: http://www.missingkids.com/home  and  http://www.netsmartzkids.org/

The Enough Is Enough® mission is “To Make the Internet Safer for Children and Families”: http://www.enough.org/

FBI – A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety: http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/parent-guide

Cyberbullying Research Center: http://cyberbullying.us/

Internet Safety – National Crime Prevention Council:  http://www.ncpc.org/topics/internet-safety

 

David Woods- IT Director, Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay

Create Your Own Path At the Boys & Girls Club

A few weeks ago, I was asked to give the keynote address at the Phi Theta Kappa national honor society  induction ceremony at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.  The organizers of the event asked me to talk about success, and the things that people could do to reach their goals.

Preparing for that  speech really gave me a chance to reflect  on my own life, and all the wonderful advice that some really special people have given me over the years.

What I told the audience that day really came down to four main points:

A Club Member Pursues her interest in Imagemakers (Photography Club)

1. Find positive mentors in your life;  When you surround yourself with positive role models, you have a chance to learn the habits and behaviors that are important for success.

2. Don’t be a spectator; create your own opportunities;  Many people wait around waiting for things to happen in life.  Successful people don’t do this.  They create their own opportunities by getting involved, meeting other people and investing in themselves.

3. Give back to your community; Being a volunteer makes a huge difference to those you help, and makes a positive impression in your own life.

4. Be a lifelong learner; This is the most important point of all…..

Learning doesn’t stop just because you have a high school diploma.  If you really want to have opportunities in life, you need to continue to find ways to learn more about the world around you–education is really the primary  key to success.

Do you like working with others?  Maybe a career in nursing or dental care is your calling.  Do you like working with your hands and making things?  You could learn to be welder or a machine operator working with robotics.  Maybe you would like to work in business creating advertising or working with computers?  You could even learn to be a fire fighter or police officer.

All of these are possible if you want them to happen and you make the effort to be a life long learner.

Your path to success starts at the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay.  The wonderful staff provides positive role models, who help you create opportunities through the fantastic programs that are available.  They also help support you in your educational journey through grade school, high school, and all the way to college. Then at a school like Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, in one to two years, you can be well on your way to lifelong career, in a job that you love.

If you want to learn more about all the careers that a college education can offer, talk to the team at the Boys and Girls Club and they can arrange a visit to NWTC.

Dean Stewart – Dean, Corporate Training and Economic Development at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

 

Club Supports Students Beyond the School Day

What began nearly twenty years ago as an effort to address a concern about “latchkey kids”, children and youth who returned to empty homes when the school day ended, has grown into a myriad of additional learning opportunities that not only fill a student’s metaphorical bucket with knowledge, but also light a fire for lifelong learning.

Club Staff Mentoring Club Members in Program Be GREAT: Graduate.

We know that today’s young people in every part of Wisconsin need to know more and be able to do more if they are to succeed in a highly-technical and international workforce. The hours after school and during the summer present a great opportunity to better prepare students academically, socially and civically. At the same time, expanded learning opportunities are proven to decrease the achievement gap that leaves too many Wisconsin youth without the skills they need to be successful in the long run.

Expanded learning opportunities such as those provided via the partnership between the Green Bay Area Public School District and the Boys & Girls Club keep young people safe, help working families, and help students succeed in school and life. The benefits are clear and well documented – now we need to continue our efforts to find ways to collaboratively offer more opportunities such as Be GREAT, Graduate and our successful 21^st Century Community Learning Center afterschool program partnership.

Together we can ensure that all students can make the best use of afterschool and summer hours to complement and strengthen what they are learning in school, to build social skills they need to succeed, and to explore the wide world around them and find the spark that will make them ready to take on the world.

Stan Kocos- Extended Learning Coordinator,  Green Bay Area Public School District

My Club Life

Hi my name is Marshon and I’m a sixteen year old junior at Green Bay East High School. I have been a member at the Thomas Lutsey Unit (Eastside Club) for six years.

Marshon, Club Member

Growing up is hard enough as it is, but for a young African American male growing up in a city with high crime rates, like Chicago where I’m from, its even harder. Moving to Green Bay gave me the chance to remove myself from that violence and to have a more peaceful childhood.

Both of my parents agreed that this would be a much safer place for me to grow up. And so here I am. I know a lot of guys that moved here with similar stories and for similar reasons. Some of them brought the violence with them and chose not to take advantage of a new beginning. They stayed in that life style of crime instead of being glad to be out of it. Me, I chose to take advantage of a fresh start.

The Boys & Girls Club has given me the chance to do so. It has given me engaging after school activities and opportunities like summer teen nights that keep me out of trouble. It has given me homework help to keep me in school, and it’s given me moral support when I’ve needed someone to talk to. I am convinced that the staff here at the club are determined to get more young men like myself off the street and into a more productive environment and I don’t mind them using me as an example because its hard to imagine where I would be without the club. At the club I get to do something that I love, I get to play basketball. This helps me to relieve any stress that I may have. At the club I know that I can always leave my problems at the door. I also attend college 101 at the club where I learn a lot about college and what its gonna take me to get there. I am a member of our Keystone Club. This is a teen leadership program that focuses on a few key components. These include community service and academic success. I even participated in golf club which proved to be a way to get rid of stress and frustration as well as improve my temper and patience.

My favorite thing though is Passport to Manhood (aka The Shop). Its one day out of the week where only teen guys are allowed in the room and we Skype with a former club staff who is currently playing professional basketball in Portugal. We can talk about anything here and its good to have Steve Skyping with us because he is a great example of what it means to be a successful young African American male.

Whether its going to The Shop or attending summer teen nights, the club has always been a positive outlet for me and I will continue to attend until I graduate. I hope more young men and young women can take advantage of this great thing we call The Club.