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The Stadium School Youth Dreamers
c/o The Stadium School
1300 Gorsuch Avenue
Baltimore, Maryland 21218

Phone  410-952-7003
FAX: 410-366-2762
youthdreamer@hotmail.com


 

 

    

(Archive)

Our Trip to New York City!!
by Jessica White

This is how the story of the Youth Dreamers in New York City began. 

First, three girls were chosen to go on this trip and present at the National Writing Project’s annual conference. To make this trip the way it was, they had to go through a lot of planning to make it so successful.

They were so excited about heading to the big city!!!! But Ms.Kristina said there were so many glitches. They had to do a lot of work before all the fun could begin. Jessica, Indirah, and Kiara began to get to work. They had meetings about what they were going to do for the presentation to make it interactive and engaging.

After doing all the planning, the girls met with Ms.Kristina to plan things to do after the presentation. The girls decided to see “The Color Purple” on Broadway. For Saturday they   planned to go on a shopping tour, ice skating and then back home.  Ms.K helped save money by asking a friend if we could stay at his apartment in SoHo. To get around, they took the subway and walked a lot, which was a really bad adventure! To get to New York, they rode on the Greyhound Bus.

Their day started on Friday Nov.16, 2007, with Ms.K starting to pick everyone up at 5:45 a. m .They arrived at the bus terminal around 6:30. By 7:00 they were off to New York. Around 10:30 they arrived in New York. With a little time on their hands they went straight to the hotel where they were presenting. Once they get done setting up, they grabbed a bite to eat. When they got back people had already started to gather in the room in which the conference was being held.

During the presentation the girls were a little nervous but they did a fantastic job!!!  The first activity was to have the participants find their groups based on TV show characters. Each group discussed if their classrooms were student-run or teacher-run. Then Ms. Kristina talked about how she uses social action to have a student-run classroom. Then everyone played Youth Dreamer Jeopardy.  Jessica spoke about peer teaching, Indirah spoke about fundraisers, and Kiaira spoke about collecting oral histories from the residents near our youth center.  Finally, we watched the Youth Dreamer DVD—our Extreme Makeover Home Edition audition tape.

Once their presentation was over they were ready for fun. “The Color Purple” crew workers were on strike so we weren’t able to go. Bummer!  Since they had no way to put their bags in the friend’s apartment, they walked to the M&M store which was so much fun. They took many pictures there. They took a tour of CNN with Ms. Kristina’s friend Doug. Later that night, they met up with Ms.Jen and they went to the movies.  They saw “Fred Claus” at the movies .Plans to go ice skating on Saturday failed because the shopping tour of SoHo that they took made them so tired.

Although the trip is over, the students still have to get things done. They need to reflect on what went on while in New York.  They are planning some fundraisers to pay back the Youth Dreamers for the money they spent.  Because they took the subway and the bus and stayed at a friend’s apartment, they only spent $388.00. They taught a workshop for high school students at Carver and earned back $200 already. 

Overall the trip was very fun.

 

What We Did at My Sister's Place
by Danielle Parham

Ms. Kristina and the Youth Dreamers decided to go to My Sister’s Place on November 21st, 2007 to help out these ladies. We decided to go once every month to do something great. My Sister’s Place is a day shelter for women in transition and women who have dealt with physical and substance abuse. To plan this November trip we had to write out a My Sister’s Place planning sheet. Stephen, Precious, and I planned this November trip.

Our icebreaker for the day was lead by Stephen. It was called, “What is my name? Describe yourself as your favorite Thanksgiving food.” I did the Youth Dreamer blurb- a little something about the Youth Dreamers and Anita helped me.

Stephen and I created a little YD/Thanksgiving play that we acted out with some of the Youth Dreamers.

After the play, Precious and Jada explained the next activity which was making keychains. All of the Youth Dreamers help served food made by Birches Restaurant that was giving to the ladies. Indirah read a poem that she wrote at the end of our wonderful trip to My Sister’s Place.


When we came back from our trip to My Sister’s Place we wrote our reflection sheets from our trip to My Sister’s Place. Everybody thought that it was a great trip. One of the ladies there said something really nice to us and it made me feel really good because they appreciate us and we don’t even go there for a long time.

 

 

Halloween Fun Fundraiser: Boo!

Hello my name is Stelea Sabb. On October 26, 2007 from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. the Youth Dreamers threw a Halloween Party at the StadiumSchool. So now I am going to give you an update on how this party turned out to be the first and most fun party so far.

Planning
Every Wednesday, the Youth Dreamers come together for the whole day of school to do nothing but everything related to Youth Dreamers. That Wednesday we brainstormed fantastic ideas & activities to have at the Halloween Fundraiser party. We had so many ideas that we used anything that came to mind, plus things from years past such as taking pictures of students in front of a scary backround, the haunted house, using the elevator to bring students to haunted house ( the stage) to scare them with people in the curtains,  making scary noises, and more.

At the Party
At the Halloween party there was a volunteer list telling who had what job. Each person had to do something such as taking pictures, elevator assistance, running the haunted house, selling snacks etc. We sold sodas, chips, pizza, and photos. Sodas were .50, chips were .50, and pizza was $1.00.  People at the back to the right side were selling snacks and to the left were taking pictures.  When you came first came in, you would see the stage curtains closed for the haunted house.  Ticket selling happened at the door.

 After reflecting as a class, here are things that worked: the haunted house, costume contest,  snack, dance music, (Cierra’s Ipod), people wore appropriate costumes, set up, balloons, pizza, tickets at the door , clean up, people who started dances, station times, sodas from Mr. Phil, taking pictures when the station was manned, etc.

What didn’t work was: the haunted house line, station times, popping balloons, pictures at the end  because it got crazy, getting people into the haunted house, pumpkins in haunted house ended up getting smashed, gum on the ground in haunted house, communication between the haunted house and the elevator, and people leaving food around.

Next YearOur next reflection is what we will suggest for next year.  We think we should:  watch the exit door for the haunted house to make sure people don’t enter there, have more chaperones,   have more pizza, have adults at the pictures, make sure Youth Dreamers are on the elevator, bigger speakers, use walkie talkies/ cell phones to communicate between the haunted house and the elevator , have more room for snacks tables, get a DJ no balloons, microphones to tell YD’s to switch stations and to call haunted house  numbers, have performance by the dance project class to get things started and don’t buy as many snacks since we had some leftover.

In my opinion the party was a big success and we made a profit of $107.44. I think more people will come next year. Many of people who came to the party felt we should definitely do this again some other time, because everyone really enjoyed themselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Lights! Camera! Action! Youth Dreamers Summer Program
Final Report by Kiaira Weems

The Lights! Camera! Action! YD Summer Program took place from June 25th-July 25th on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:00-3:00. This program was generously funded by State Farm Insurance, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, and Baltimore Housing Office of Community Services.
 
Video Production: From 10:00-12:00 students worked with Taylor, Shameka, Erin, and Marcus from Kids on the Hill to create awesome videos expressing the themes of their choice. The students choose to do skits on gangs and gang violence. First each student had to sit down and plan out a skit. Then it was time to get actors and props to actually do the skits. In the middle, they were learning filming skills from Kids on the Hill.  Finally it was time to edit the skit and put everything together. All of this was done by the students with a little help from Kids on the Hill and everything turned out great.

Lunch: From 12:00-1:00 we eat lunch, outdoor activities, and reading/discussion of the book The Freedom Writers Diary. Each student got a copy thanks to The Children’s Bookstore. For the first 20 minutes we ate lunch which was free to the students thanks to Baltimore Office of Community Services and their summer lunch program. The next 20 minutes went to outdoor activities where student could go outside to play and chill. The last 20 minutes went to reading and discussions. This summer the students read The Freedom Writers Diary which was also related to gangs and gang violence. On Mondays students would read and discuss the book in small groups, Wednesdays they would write in their journals to express their thoughts and feelings about the book, and on Fridays we had large group discussions and we would read aloud. Each student will receive  booktalk credits for completing the book and their journals.

Community Art: From 1:00-3:00 students worked on community art with MICA graduate student Marissa who taught them different art techniques and how to create community art. High school interns Lyric and Jordan also helped teach. One project was before and after drawings of the rooms of the house of our future youth center. Another project was to create a mural of their dreams which was displayed at Artscape. Students were also given cameras to take home so that they could take pictures that symbolized their identity. These photographs were framed and displayed at Artscape.

Artscape: As a culminating event for the end of the summer arts program each site comes together and displays their art work at Artscape. Each site also has to do their own workshop to get people engaged in making community art. Our site led a workshop called “Plant a seed and grow a community.”  During the workshop, the students helped members of the public paint pots and plant seeds in them.  The pots made will be displayed at the Youth Dreamer Youth Center after the flowers are planted around the center. After the workshop students were able to tour Artscape and look at art work, listen to music, eat, and just relax.

Evaluation: At the end of the YD summer program all the students were asked to complete an evaluation that asked how much they enjoyed  each part of the program, how much they learned from each part of the program, and if they would attend next year. The evaluation showed that

4 students loved the program,
8 said they liked it,
1 thought it was ok.

Students then had to rank how much they enjoyed the program from 1-3 with 1 being the best.

For the Kids on the Hill part of the program 10 students gave it a 1,
2 students gave it a 2,
1 student gave it a 3.

For the reading part of the program
3 students gave it a 1
6 students gave it a 2
and 1 gave it a 3.

For the Art part of the program
4 students gave it a 1,
6 students gave it 2
3 students gave it a 3.

Students also had to put how much they learned.
8 students said they learned the most from Kids on the Hill
3 said they learned a little
2 said they learned the least from Kids on the Hill.

For reading
3 students said they learned the most from Freedom Writers
8 said they learned a little.

For art class 3 said they learned the most
1 student said they learned a little
7 said they learned the least.

5 students said they would come back next year, 6 said maybe and 2 no.

Kiaira Weems, a high school Youth Dreamer, was employed throughout the program to supervise and write grants for the Youth Dreamers 2007-08 programs. 

Overall students gave positive feedback and they gave us their thoughts and opinions on what should be done a little differently for next year.  Overall, all the students really enjoyed the Lights! Camera! Action! Youth Dreamer Summer Program as shown by their excellent attendance and enthusiasm throughout!

THE BEST BLOCK PARTY
by Toni Shuford with help from Ms. Kristina

 

April 21, 2007 was the day of our block party aka Funfest. The purpose was so that the people on the block could know we are there for the children and adults and because we are trying to decrease the amount of violence in that neighborhood.

Our specific goals for the day were to build community and change the often negative perception of youth. We were also trying to meet the goals of National and Global Youth Service Day: to mobilize youth to identify and address the needs of their community, to support youth on a lifelong path of service, and to educate the public about the year round contributions of young people as community leaders.

We did a lot of planning before the big event. The stations we signed up for were welcome table, food table, face painting, mosaicing the picnic table, making paper stepping stones, and games. We had to collect everything for the stations and decide how they would be run. We had to find adult volunteers to help out, including artist Ms. Diane who worked with us to design the mosaic picnic table, buy the glass, cut it, and put it all together on the big day.

The food was good. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, sodas, juices, water, and cake. Mr. Mick from the Whiskey Island Pirate Shop did all of our grilling and made some delicious side salads, too!

Some activities that took place in the day are we did a water balloon toss, played football, played baseball, had a 3 legged race, mosaiced a picnic table for the futuhre youth center, designed paper stepping stones, painted faces, and provided entertainment on the porch. The guests were the 21 community members, 10 Youth Dreamers, and 7 board members.  The community members who came played, laughed, and one little boy even danced for everyone. The board members came and helped with the activities and with the set up. The Youth Dreamers went to their stations and did their jobs. 

When we did the survey at the end of the day, the highest score was a 5 and for every question we got a 5. The questions were:

  • Did you have fun?
  • Was it well organized?
  • Would you come back next year?
  • Would you spread the word about the Youth Dreamers?
  • What was your favorite part?
  • What could we change for next year?

The things that worked were signs/flyers in the neighborhood, water balloon toss, transportation, food by Mr.Mick, taking pictures, 3 legged race, lots of YD volunteers, the mosaic panic table with Ms. Diane, etc.

The things that didn't work were the m & m raffle, the only bathroom being at the church across the street, not enough chairs, the tatoo pencils that were melting, etc.

The thing that we can improve for next year is we really didn't need arts and crafts; we can just float and be aware of where we are needed instead of being at specific stations, we can get more chairs, we should keep the formal entertainment like the Dreamgirls performance, we should get some pencil sharpeners and actual face paint, we can do a food contest, we can have a scavenger hunt, we can play Red Light Green Light , etc.

We feel that we met both our goals and the goals of National and Global Youth Service Day. Our evaluations showed that people had a great time and would definitely come back next year. We also stayed in the budget. We spent $859.90 and we had $140.10 left over. We plan to use that for a celebration for the Youth Dreamers who volunteered that day!

 

 

My Super Awesome Trip to Albuquerque
A Cell Phone's Story, As told to Miriam L. Harris



Hi. I'm Metallica, a pretty pink razor cell phone. I'm going to tell you about the biggest trip of my life. The trip started out with me just sitting on the dresser in my holder as usual, watching my owner, Miriam put clothes and things in a bag. After watching her do this for about an hour, I heard a car honking outside. Miriam fled down the steps with the bag. “Oh no! She's leaving me again!” I was thinking. About five minutes later, she came back and stuffed me in her purse. Once in, I was greeted by wallet and keys. I could see the inside of a car from her purse. Then, I heard a lady say, “To the airport!” I was leaving home!

The next thing I saw was a big lady in front of a desk saying, “No flights open.” This upset Miriam, and her friends that were with her. After five minutes of talking to that lady, we started moving again. We went to another lady, who said, “Flight to Chicago , then Kansas City , then Albuquerque .” Everyone's expression changed. Miriam's friends started hopping up and down, and the purse started shaking, which meant that Miriam was hopping, too. I guess we got a flight to Albuquerque , New Mexico . Next thing I saw was Miriam. She was inside of this aircraft; I guess it was a plane. She seemed pretty scared, too, because her hands were shaking as she put me to sleep.

When I woke up, we were on a trolley, and the top of the car said “ Chicago ”. I was really far away from home now! All I could hear was Miriam and her friends going on an on about how scary the flight was. I decided to sit back and chill with wallet. When I looked up, I was back on the dresser. It must've been a bad dream. Wait-this wasn't my dresser! The room I was in was clean, so this definitely wasn't my room. I looked for Miriam, and I saw her by a couch. Her friends were there, too. One of them wasn't by the couch-but IN the couch! Miriam and her friends were cracking up, and the taller lady was screaming and tugging at the couch. This was pretty funny, actually. Miriam didn't know it, but I used my camera to film it. When Miriam got back from dinner, she told me to sing and wake her up at 4:30 ! I can't sing that early! I guess I have to try, then.

I was up, at 4:30 , singing, to wake them up. I wasn't alone. There was a choir! An alarm clock was singing, along with some other cell phones. Miriam got dressed, and stuffed me into her purse. Before I knew it, we were in another big aircraft, and Miriam was putting me to sleep once again. Upon my awake we were riding down the road. I wanted to know where we were, so I hopped into the window. There were cactuses in the highways! Everything was brown, and there were crows everywhere! When we got out of the van, I was eager to look at the license plate to see were we are, so I hopped out of the purse, and the license plate said “ Albuquerque ”! Oh my gosh! I was no longer home! Miriam picked me up and put me in her purse again. When she released me, it was to make a call. For the next half hour, Miriam ranted on and on to her friend Dominique back at home about how awesome Albuquerque was. I was really grateful when Ms. Kristina told her to hang me up, because the person on the other line was really loud, and I was getting a headache.

We walked into a big room with lots of tables set up. It all looked very fancy. Miriam then muted me and put me into a new bag. This one was a pretty orange color. Though I was muted, I could still hop and hear. As everyone was settling down, I sneakily hopped out of the bag and sat on the table next to a giant piece of chocolate cake, and plate of food. Miriam and her friends were sitting at a table along with some guy they called Mr. Andy. Next thing I knew, everyone was getting up onto a stage with all of her friends and speaking into a big round thing that made them louder. I set up my camera once again, and took lots of pictures. They looked really pretty.

Next, Miriam still had me muted, and we were in another room. This one was smaller, and Miriam was participating in activities about service learning. This was probably the workshops that Ms. Kristina kept ranting on about. It looked pretty interesting, from my point of view. There were big people at the front of the room talking about service learning. They said that it makes a really important impact on children and teens. I guess, that as a cell phone, I could agree. Miriam's friends looked like they were having fun. Now, there was a big glass thing in the orange bag beside me. It said, “2007 State Farm Youth Leadership for Service Learning. Awarded to the Youth Dreamers.” Cool! Miriam and her friends won something for writing that long paper that they wrote! I remember peeking at them writing it. They talked about who the Youth Dreamers were, and all of the reasons that they deserved this award. They did a whole lot of service learning in their community, after all. The Youth Dreamers really deserve to have this glass thing sitting next to me.

The next time I was recognized, I was ringing. I was no longer in the workshop, or even in that side of town. Miriam was quick to take me out of the bag, and put me to her ear. The person on the other line,(Miriam called her Cassie), was also extremely loud, so I'm glad that Ms. K told Miriam to hang up once again, due to a “Family Dinner” that they were having. As I looked around to realize where we were, we were all in a restaurant and there was nice music playing. I sat for a couple of minutes watching the humans chow down. They were eating fajitas, guacamole, and these nice pieces of bread called Sopapillas. This was really boring, so I decided to have a nice conversation with a stuffed doggy named Albuquerque , of all things.

When I regained consciousness, everyone was dancing. Lights were flashing, and music was playing. This was pretty loud, too. I guess Miriam sympathized with me, because she took me into the lobby for another loud conversation with someone from Baltimore .

It was morning time now, and I was in a whole new hotel room. I was in the room alone. Where was Miriam? She left me again! Oh no! I mide-as-well put a sombrero on and call myself Carlos; I'll be in New Mexico forever! Just as I was about to give up all hope, everyone rushed into the room, and Miriam stuffed me into another bag. I guess we were off. Another aircraft, so Miriam put me to sleep once again.

When I woke up, it was night time, and I was unsure of where we were. Suddenly, I had service again, and my central time switched over to Baltimore time. I was home again! It felt nice to be back in Baltimore again. I needed a charge. I couldn't wait to get back home and be plugged up again. Boy, What a trip!

 

 

My Sister's Place Report, April 25, 2007
By: Dominique Davis

In April the Youth Dreamers went to pay their monthly visit to My Sister's Place. My Sister's Place is a day shelter for battered or homeless women and children. We decided to go to My Sister's Place to provide entertaining, enriching activities to take their minds off their problems and worries so that they can feel good. We prepare an agenda every month that includes an activity, some form of entertainment and food and drink.

This month we painted pots. We gave each lady a pot for themselves. The pots they painted for themselves were really small. Then some of the Youth Dreamers sat down with the women and painted bigger pots as a gift to beautify the windowsills of the building. We unfortunately could not plant flowers because we were pressed for time. We were at My Sister's Place for about an hour and the whole time we were painting chatting and mingling with the ladies.

This visit we had a lot of little children with us, so we let them color and draw on the banner that we made for them. (Which you may see if you ever decide to visit My Sister's Place) So we had children busy coloring on the floor laughing and giggling, happy women chatting with each and the Youth Dreamers asking each other for paint and brushes. Soon it was time to pass out cup cakes. We had so many that the Youth Dreamers got one each…THANKS to Mr. Mick's generosity! (He is from the Whiskey Island Pirate Shop and he donates the food each month.).

Soon it was time to leave, but before we left we all joined in a song, which was a little like a rhyme. We sang the “Goodbye Song” from the popular show ‘Out Of the Box.'

I was at this visit and I think that it went great was fun. I liked painting pots and listening to the women talking, chatting and asking each other how their pots looked. I myself was painting a pot for My Sister's Place. I had a very good time and enjoyed making other people happy. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed it. We are heading back for our last visit on May 16 th .

 

The Youth Dreamers 2007 Gala/Auction…Starry Night II: Under Construction

Written By Miriam Harris and Brittany Mcadams

For a year, the Youth Dreamers have planned their second Gala/Auction. After finally deciding all of the plans for the night, they decided to get ready. On March 24, 2007 (the day of the auction), the Youth Dreamers got to the Creative Alliance in the early noon to set up. The setup was difficult because the kids and adults allies had to move heavy tables, set up food, hang decorations, and organize everything for our night. Despite the hard hours of work, the place was finally ready for the event.

That evening, The YD's (Youth Dreamers) came back to greet guests and hold the event. Each Youth Dreamer had a schedule and jobs for the night. Some worked at the Greeting Table to give each guest a bidder number and a program. Others mingled with guests. Once most had got there, the night started off with a bang as people started bidding, eating, talking, and having fun.

Around 8:00p.m. , the Gala swung into full gear when award-winning group The Kelly Bell Band got onto the stage. Once they started playing, everyone was dancing, slapping, and singing along. Even teachers from the Stadium School were dancing. The band sprang more life into the Gala.

Meanwhile, some spent their night bidding on items. There was a great variety of items from sports merchandise, to jewelry, to art pieces. Some of the items that were to be auctioned off were donated to the YD's the day before the Gala. The most popular items were things like beauty packages, jewelry, gift cards, and a summer cottage. People were battling to bid on items. All of the donated items were really valuable, and lots of people were willing to spend their money on them.

The night hosted a wide range of guests. There was everyone from volunteer artists, Maryland Institute College of Art students, to teachers. Some of the guests were people that had never even heard of the Youth Dreamers, but thought it would be good to come. All guests who came had a wonderful time. The event was catered by Biddle Street Catering .Guests enjoyed a wide range of food from crab meat to artichoke and spinach puffs. There were also delicious deserts like cream-filled pastries. All leftover food from the night was donated to shelters.

In conclusion, the night was big bang ,and the Youth Dreamers hosted a successful event that everyone who attended loved. Though they did a lot of work, they couldn't have done it without sponsors like Jane Kaczmarek from Malcolm in the Middle , MICA students ,The Kelly Bell Band ,and so many more wonderful people .

The Youth Dreamers felt like celebrities the whole time, and the attendees had a wonderful time .

“I really loved it. It was great !”-Youth Dreamer .

The Youth Dreamers would also like to thank Biddle Street Catering, Andre at the Creative Alliance, Senoda, Inc. Printing, Spectrum Printing and Graphics, Taylor Rentals, Spokany and Company, Rocky Run Restaurant, all of the corporate sponsors, everyone who donated to the silent auction and everyone who attended and/or donated to the event.

In the end ,the gala raised a net amount of $16,000 and about 200 people came. This was a wonderful event, and the Youth Dreamers plan to hold more.

February at My Sister's Place
by DaVontre Miller

My Sisters Place is a day shelter for battered women where they feed them breakfast lunch and dinner. They do different activities and they also make room for us while we are there. We decided to go there because we want to brighten up their spirits and we also go there to make the women in bad situations happy!!!!!

Planning the Day
We prepared by asking other Youth Dreamers would they bring anything or participate by leading the icebreaker or doing the blurb about the YD's or leading the activities.

The Day
The day we went to My Sisters Place was February 14, 2007 . Although it snowed, four of us still got there to do the Valentines Day activities. The agenda for that day was to do Valentines Day boxes and they were creative because instead of regular boxes we used Chinese boxes and they loved it. While we were there we did an icebreaker which was who was your Valentine and what was the best gift they gave you. They enjoyed that then for the activity they made Valentine boxes and decorated them which they loved!!!!!

After
I think it went very well they loved the icebreaker but they especially loved the activities. They were really happy to have us there.

How Can You Help!!!!
You can help us by providing transportation for us or providing ideas for the next time we go!!! You could also talk to Ms. English who is the director and tell her if you would like to help or do activities with them. My Sisters Place is located in the downtown area on 111 W. Mulbery St .

January at My Sister's Place
by Indirah Auguste and Brittany Wiggins

My Sister's Place is a day shelter for women in need. In January, we decided to go to My Sister's place to make frames for themselves and put their pictures in the frames.

To prepare for going to my Sister's Place Danielle and Brittany created a plan which included an ice breaker which was to say your New Years resolution that was lead by Danielle. Kiah and Regene did a blurb about the Youth Dreamers. Mr. Mick catered as usual and the Youth Dreamers served. At the end Danielle read a poem about Martin Luther King Jr. We went January 17, 2007 and we had fun.

  • Danielle said, "It was fun."

  • Kesi said, "It was great."

  • Tremara said, "The trip to My Sister's Place was interesting. I had fun and I would love to keep doing this for these women."

  • Shamia said, "It was excellent. I really think that the ladies really love us coming there. It warms my heart to see that a young group like us can make women like them happy. It's just so great to see them smile and be happy."

The ladies really liked the frames and they came out really good. They were lovely, awesome, and pretty. Of course we should go again. You can help by giving items to them by sending them to the director Ms. English at 111 W. Mulberry St. for those who would like to help.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr., Day: Day ON for YD

By: Dominique Davis

The Youth Dreamers came across an event through the Governor's Office of Service and Volunteerism that took place on MLK Day and emphasized that it was a day ON not a day OFF. The Youth Dreamers wrote and completed a short grant to receive 500 dollars towards doing community service work on MLK day. The grant included making Build a Bears for sick children at a local Hospital, making PBJ sandwiches for Our Daily Bread and helping out at the Shepherds Clinic behind our future youth center.

The Youth Dreamers noticed that there was a building next to our youth center. We all thought that it was vacant because the side of the building that was visible to us was boarded up. The reason was because people were continually vandalizing and breaking the windows of the clinic. We come to find out that the building wasn't vacant but actually a clinic (Shepherd's Clinic) for people who don't have insurance or can't afford medications or medical treatment.

The Shepherd's Clinic relies mainly on volunteers and in-kind donations to remain up and running, including volunteer doctors and nurses that are retired or come after doing their own jobs.

The Youth Dreamers volunteered to paint a room in the clinic, clean up, do filing work, make information packets, and go around the neighborhood with flyers to spread the word about the Shepherd's Clinic and what they do.

We purchased paint, paintbrushes, rollers, and tape. We also purchased pizza to eat for lunch.

The Youth Dreamers did a good thing on a day off. We also plan to do the Build a Bear and PBJ later in January.

November Visit to My Sister's Place

By: Indirah Auguste

Every time we go to My Sisters Place, there is a lot of planning involved. We have to choose what the ladies may like and also what will be enjoyable for the ladies. My Sisters Place is a shelter for battered women who are victims of any kind of abuse like substance, verbal also domestic violence. The reason we decided to go there was to let the ladies have a good time and do something creative with their time and let their problems fade away. When we went there it was Christmas time and we had the ladies make Christmas cards. Also we put a play on for them "Elvis and the Shoemaker." For food we had Mr. Mick cater the food. He made fruit salad, tuna sandwiches and salad.

The day we went to My Sisters Place was December 13, 2006 . We left around 10:00 am that morning. We arrived downtown at My Sisters Place. Then we started with the icebreaker which was led by Indirah Auguste and it was "What was your favorite gift you ever received?" After everything calmed down, the Youth Dreamers presented "The Shoemaker and Elvis." Six Youth Dreamers starred in the play and the rest sang at different parts. Then the Youth Dreamers spread out to help the ladies make their cards and to have fun. I had a great time helping them. Finally, we served lunch, catered for free by Mr. Mick from the Whiskey Island Pirate Shop.

After everything was finished the ladies were kind of sad that we were leaving. Besides all of that I think it went very well! It was fun watching them explore their creative side and to give holiday spirit!!! All the Youth Dreamers think the ladies enjoy our visit all the time and they are excited and waiting until the next time we come back!!! I think we should go back because the Youth Dreamers and the ladies enjoy each other's company.

Youth Dreamers Became the Ravens Honor Rows!!!

By: Stanley Christian

On November 19, 2006 the Ravens battled the Atlanta Falcons. The Youth Dreamers were recommended to be the Ravens Honor Rows. The Raven Honor Rows is a program that salutes a few youth groups that do community work, to help improve the community and make it better. We got to participate in this event thanks to Ms.Christy who nominated us, and said a lot of nice things about us. There were about 18 Youth Dreamers that went and participated in the event, that includes high school Youth Dreamers, board members, and adult alleys.

When we were at the Stadium, we got a tour of the field and were presented with a certificate from the governor, acknowledging our hard work. We also got to watch the Ravens players warm up and get ready for the game. We also had the highest seats in the whole entire stadium. While we watched the players practice we recognized Clarence Moore, Kyle Boller, Mark Clayton, and other players. During the beginning of the game the Ravens defense sucked. But in the second half the defense sacked Micheal Vick 5 times. The Ravens' running back Jamal Lewis scored 3 times and Matt Stover kicked a field goal to give the Ravens' a 24-10 win! Yay!

During the third quarter The Stadium School Youth Dreamers were featured on the jumbotron. The Youth Dreamers had been given green shirts so that they could be honored by the Ravens. The game was such a great experience. I loved the atmosphere. Also the Ravens really played hard. I just had fun overall.

 

My Sister's Place

By :Indirah Auguste and Toni Shuford

The Youth Dreamers went to My Sister's Place on November 1, 2006, at 10:00am . My Sister's Place is a shelter for women who may be homeless, abused, or mentally challenged. They may have been victims of any kind of abuse.

One of the reasons we go to My Sisters Place is because we want the ladies to have a good time for an hour without thinking about their problems. Also they can have fun without having someone tell them they can't do this or that.

Preparation: We prepared by getting everyone to bring something in such as food items. Some people brought candy from Halloween, and someone brought chicken. We already had pretzels, chips and juices. The Youth Dreamers brought in magazines, colored pencils, paper, glue and tape, markers, string, and crayons for our journal making art activity.

Icebreaker: When we got there we introduced ourselves to the ladies and did the icebreaker. For the icebreaker we did "What do you do in your spare time?". The ladies really like the icebreaker. Then we started with the activity which was journals. They decorated their journals very differently.

Activity: One lady wanted all the Youth Dreamers to sign her book. The Youth Dreamers went around helping the ladies with their journals. They colored with the markers and cut the pictures out of the magazines and put the pictures in their journals.

I think the time that we were there it was awesome!! One lady said she really enjoyed us coming and giving them an activity. One lady even gave us her journal so we could use it as a scrapbook. I think they really enjoyed the activities because I think they had time to express themselves through art. The results of this trip were that the ladies really had fun and they wanted to remember that day.

 

The Halloween Dance Report '06

By: Dominique Davis and Miriam L. Harris

The Stadium School Youth Dreamers have successfully completed another SPOOKTACULAR event. On October 27, 2006 The Youth Dreamers hosted their second Halloween Party.

  • This Halloween party consisted of a Haunted House, where children were led inside of a dark stage, then were told a story about a ghostly janitor. This was very effective. Eighth graders were running out of the stage screaming and crying.

  • More events were the Costume Contest, were there were a third, second, and first place prizes awarded to the most enthusiastic costume wearers, and a Guess and Grab Contest in which students stuck their hands into weird objects like spaghetti, peeled grapes, and jelly that were made to feel like brains and guts. Inside the goriness were tickets for free pizza and snacks.

  • We also had a photography station for students who wanted to capture a memory with their friends. A photo cost $1.00 each. Tickets to the Halloween party were $3.00 per student.

Planning: Before we could hold the party, we had to plan the party. During the planning process, the Youth Dreamers sat down and started brainstorming. After we had thought of what we would have at our party (haunted house, snacks, games, contests), we had to write up a full plan including who would come, what would happen, when it would be, where it would be, the steps before, during and after, and the rules. Once we wrote it up and submitted to Mr. Ron, we got permission and were ready to begin all the work. We went to Cosco, a large supply store, and Party City , a store that sells party supplies. After shopping, we planned the haunted house, assigned duties to all of the Youth Dreamers and we were all ready.

The Spooky Night: The night of the party, students filed into the gym around 4:00 . Music was provided by high school Youth Dreamer, Cierra Cary. Cierra plugged up her ipod to speakers, and the music began. By 4:15 , everyone was dancing, playing games, and buying snacks. The Haunted House, which was being held on the stage, was also in full-effect. Children were constantly being shipped up onto the stage were the House was by Dominique Davis. Once they got there, they were scared silly by the "Evil Witch" played by Ms. Bev, a teacher. They were then taken by a tour guide, played by a Youth Dreamer, and escorted through pitch black stage. The tour guide then told them a story of an evil janitor, who haunts the stage. Then, students were grabbed and sprayed with silly string. This sent them running down from the stage, screaming and crying. Even the toughest of the eighth graders at The Stadium School had run out screaming. At the party we served Hot Pizza, juices, pretzels, candy and lollipops. Everyone had a good time even the Youth Dreamers.

After the party, we calculated our profit and reflected on the party. We raised the following amounts:

•  Ticket Sales At the Door- 70.50
•  Ticket Sales Before the Party- 93.70
•  Snacks and Pizza- 126.20
•  Photos- 26.00
•  Raffle Tickets- 2.00

Once we subtracted our costs and donated 10% to the Stadium School , all in all, we made a whopping $115.21. Our reflections are below:

WHAT WORKED

WHAT DIDN'T

NEXT TIME

The Youth Dreamers Worked hard.

Touch and grab

Costume contest

Pizza ( 10 )

Face painting

Pizza (get it donated instead )

Snacks

Need to get pizza DONATED

Take number for the haunted house and have the DJ call there number

Haunted House

Games-- don't need them

Juice ( 80 ) need more, chips, candy bags, don't buy pretzels

The people who worked the haunted house

Too many people sitting

Bring MICA students to do face painting

Scared people

Not long enough

Haunted house- change the story next year ( continuation )

We all had patience

Raffle no need

Pictures w\students running and use the same order form

Balloons ( the cleanup was fun )

Elevator ( close faster )

DJ- do the electric slide at the end

Cierra's ipod and Mr. Rose being the DJ Ms. Bev

 

Make sure there is an adult at each station

Dancing appropriately

 

Ropes at the snacks and haunted house

Well organized pictures thanks to Ms. Denise

 

Cover the lights in the elevator

The elevator

 

Extend to 2 and 1\2 hours

Selling at the door

 

 

 

We look forward to next year's spooktacular event!!!!

Demo Day II
Part of James W. Rouse Community Service Day

by Regene, Stanley, and many other Youth Dreamers who participated.

On September 16 th , 2006 we had Youth Dreamer Demo Day II. This is not the first Demo Day that we have had. We had one in December 2005. We had help by Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse. They signed us up for James W. Rouse Community Day. That is when they sponsor different sites all over Baltimore to get volunteers to help clean, build, etc. to make a better Baltimore!

Preparations
To prepare we had to create flyers that invited the community members/ residents, and had many meetings with Mr. Andy Powell at SBER. We organized the different stations, made a schedule for youth and adults to monitor stations, bought snacks from Costco, created sign in sheets and waivers, decided on what to make as thank you's for the volunteers, and met with a student from MICA to design the tee-shirts (which are now our Youth Dreamers shirts).We pulled up weeds and, last but not least, put together the hard hats.

The Big Day!
On the big day, we got there about 8:00 am to set up. We set up the Welcome table, Snack table, Tool table, and the shirts. We then started construction. We were tearing down the siding, pulling the nails, and dumping trash. We went to the recycling center to recycle the aluminum siding on the house which they paid us for per pound. Mary Pat Clark came out to show us some support. Bill Struever came, too.

Favorite Moments

Diamond: My favorite part was Ms. Pesky getting the cherry-picker out. The guy who was supposed to take care of the cherry-picker got it stuck in the mud then left. She got in it and got it out-GO PESKY! We also we had Youth Dreamers (Danielle, Toni, Regene, and Chekana) go to the aluminum place to recycle aluminum for money to cover the costs of the day. The amount we came up to was $445.00 from recycling. My favorite part was getting on the cherry-picker with Diamond. It was so fun to work at demo day. It was so very amazing to see so many volunteers come out and help with everything. Everyone who was there cooperated and participated nicely.

Kiah: Demo day was a huge success! We got a lot of work done. My personal favorite part of the day was when we pulled down the porch roof. We all got into a line, grabbed part of a rope that was hooked up to the porch, and pulled. The side rails came down and startled everybody. Then, Mr. Andy pulled the whole roof down. By the end of the day, we all felt a sense of accomplishment as we looked at our newly naked house. (Miriam) We had a lot of fun at the end. Ms. K was so surprised that the dumpster was full! I think that Demo Day 2 was more successful than Demo Day 1.

In conclusion, we accomplished a lot of things. Everything went as planned. That tells me as well as the YOUTH DREAMERS that people really support what we are trying to do with the YOUTH DREAMER YOUTH CENTER .

 

A special huge thank you to..

  • Ms. Nicole, our loyal board member who was there
  • Ms. Liz, another loyal board member who was there
  • Ms. Marilyn, ANOTHER loyal board member who helped with planning
  • Mr. Peter who helped haul aluminum all day
  • Mr. Matt who helped haul aluminum all day
  • Mary Pat Clarke who came and worked with us for an hour
  • Aaron Dock of L and J Construction Service, Inc who donated the dumpsters
  • B. Dize, Douglas Eder, Gary Murphy, and Steve "Gumby" Winters-all from Oak Contracting who donated many tools
  • Jim Wallace of ARC Construction Services, Inc., who did demo BEFORE the big day
  • Georgia Jennings of K and K Adams Demo who donated lunch and the cherry picker operator
  • Sunbelt who donated the cherry picker
  • Karla Schaffer, our student attorney from the University of Maryland School of Law, who created our waivers for us
  • All of our community volunteers
  • ALL OF THE VOLUNTEERS FROM SBER AND ESPECIALLY MR. ANDY who ran the whole day AND MS. KATE who got us on the list for James W. Rouse Community Service Day

 

 

October My Sister's Place

A Report by Indirah Auguste

My Sister's place is a shelter for women who aren't experiencing the best things at the time. They may be dealing with domestic violence or may have been a victim of substance abuse. One of the reasons we decided to go to My Sister's Place is because we know these ladies deal with issues that are very hard for them. We go to help the ladies not think about their troubles for a while and fade away from reality just for a couple of hours.

Preparation: Before we went we had a lot of preparing to do. First, we had to think about what we were going to do when we got there. We didn't want to be unprepared. Then we decided on everything we wanted to do. We had to plan our activities: an icebreaker, food and a closing.

We went to My Sister's on September 27, 2006 around 10:00.When we arrived, we all introduced ourselves and then we did the icebreaker, which was "Guess that Person". We thought that would go well but it really didn't because some of the ladies didn't have the greatest penmanship and we couldn't understand their writing.

Then we started with our main idea which was making key chains. Mostly all the ladies enjoyed that. Also we noticed that some of the ladies were very creative and talented. The ladies really had fun. Also one lady had a son named Jordan and some of the Youth Dreamers played with him such as Dominique, Anita and Toni.

After that we gave out plates of pizza, juice, Rice Crispy treats, and potato chips. By then our time was coming to an end. When it was time for us to leave we sang Chris Brown's "Say Goodbye."

One lady really enjoyed us being there and she said, "On behalf of the staff and ladies here, I just want to thank you for coming. Thank you for giving us a chance not to think about our problems for an hour. If I were your parents, I would be so proud. There are not many youth who would do what you did for us today. You give me hope for my grandchildren."

My perception is that our day at My Sister's Place was great. While we were leaving the Youth Dreamers had comments about everything, like, "The baby was so adorable." Also "One lady was weaving her string and it was really pretty." We all think the ladies enjoyed our visit because it took them away from their problems.

 

Youth Dreamer Healthy Summer Program Report

By Christina Jackson, Zakiyah Abdulghaffar, and Dominique Davis

The YD Healthy Summer Program took place from June 26 th to July 26 th on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:00 to 4:30 . This program was generously funded by State Farm Insurance and Baltimore Office of Promotions and the Arts and 14 students attended.

Mr. Luke would teach them about Nutrition and the foods from around the world from 10 am to 12 pm. Students ate what they cooked from 12:00 to 12:30 .

From 12:30 to 2:30 they performed in Community Arts and they had MICA graduate students Mr. Mike and Ms. Hilary teach them different techniques of art. High school interns Chekana Reid and Jade Davis also helped to teach. One of their art projects was to create a mosaic house number out of tiny pieces of tile. They had to pick a house number from Carswell Street (the street where the Youth Dreamer house is locate), make the tile and then give their finished art product to the resident. Residents were really happy to receive these!

Gardening took place from 3 - 4:30 pm with Mr. Marcus. Everyday they would walk up the street to Homestead St. and either plant or pick fruits and vegetables. Whatever they brought back they would use with Mr. Luke to make a healthy food dish.

On Fridays a representative from the House of Ruth would come to TSS and speak about peer pressure and having pure healthy relationships. They had an assignment where Ms. Ola wrote a bunch of problems that kids and teenagers go through every day, and she had the kids tell her what would be the right thing to do. There were really good discussions about the right things to do.

Between 2:30 to 3:00 they read out loud, from a book called Chew On This by Eric Schlosser with Ms. Kristina. This is the kid version of the book Fast Food Nation. This book will tell you about all the things you need to know about fast foods and what is good and bad for your body. During this time, students played Chew on This Jeopardy, acted on Oprah's Book Club, and created posters with healthy facts they had learned. On the last day, the teachers played against the students in a Literacy through Water Balloons Contest. Each team earned water balloons for answering questions correctly. The teachers won by answering the most questions correctly so they got to pelt the students with the water balloons!

In addition to the book, one day Mr. Luke let the class watch a movie called Super Size Me , a movie about a man who was conducting an experiment. The experiment was that he had to eat Mc Donald's for 30 days-- three square meals a day-- and by the time we finished watching the movie, many of the kids didn't want to eat any more fast food or eat it as often as they used to.

There were many special trips throughout the summer. On July the 8 th the class took a trip to the Waverly Farmers Market for a scavenger hunt from 9 to 1. They had to find specific foods on a list, meet people and most of all have a good time. Everyone enjoyed themselves. On Wednesday July 19 th they went swimming at the Cold Stream Pool for a nice day of cooling down and having fun. Everyone who went had a good time and those who couldn't make it still had a good time because they stayed behind and helped the MICA grad students and the high school interns prepare for Artscape 2006.

On Saturday the 22 nd , students led a printmaking workshop at the famous Artscape !! Every site with a MICA summer program had their artwork on display. The Youth Dreamers also sold art cards and coasters. Everyone who went also got to tour around for an hour after the workshop. There was food, music, art, and workshops that were really fun. There were a lot of people and there was even a commercial that advertised the event.

On July 28, 2006 the summer program went on their final trip to the Springfield Farm and viewed the life of an animal that will soon become your dinner. There were many kinds of animals such as chickens, roosters, rabbits, goats, peacocks, peahens, pigs, ducks, and even Freddy the four o'clock Fox, the fox that always comes around four o'clock and hunts down the chickens. The farm life doesn't seem all that difficult. The kids got to see all the animals that they own and it was so interesting. Everyone had a good time.

All the students in the summer program completed an evaluation that included questions about the four different classes that they took. Some of the data is below.

Would you Come Back

Next Year?

 

Car Wash Cleans Up (in more than one way)!

By: Christina Jackson

The Car Wash was on Saturday July 16, 2006. When everyone arrived we thought that their was a hose awaiting but come to find out we had to buy one along with a nozzle for the tip of the hose.

Anyway Ms.Liz, Ms.Kristina, Regene, and Kiara stood out at the front of the Wal*Mart to spread the word and tell them to go get their car washed. I had to say that Ms.Kristina was the most energized I have ever seen her!!!!!!!!! I think when I say this everyone knows Ms.Kristina can be peppy at times but this was an overload of peppiness.

While they were shouting, and collecting offerings everyone else was washing cars. Our 1 st customer was the Wal*Mart employee and then we started to wash the adults' cars. By the time we finished washing the cars, customers started to form a line and that's how we got started.

Between Cierra, Jade, Chekanna, Mr. Harold (Kiah's Dad), and me, we washed the cars. Kiah, Ms.Liz, Ms.Nicole and Daniel were drying the cars. When we were finished with the line of cars Jade, Chekanna, and I went out to the parking lot to pass out mini flyers on people's cars so that they knew we were having a carwash. By the time we returned back to the washing station they needed help big time.

By 12:30 everyone was tired and ready to sit back relax and enjoy all of the left over baked goods and refreshments. Finally when the carwash was over, guess who showed up? It was Mr. Mike, and he wanted us to wash his car! Everybody was either sitting down or eating cupcakes.

The last thing I did was I promised myself that I was going to get somebody wet. Between Ms.Kristina, Chekanna, Kiah, and me, we got soaking wet. But the most important thing was that we had fun. The people at the door raised $117 in donations and we raised $107 from washing cars and selling drinks.

 

Homework Glub Ends on a High Note

Program Description
by Keymani Johnson and Kiniasin Buie

What is Homework Club?
Homework Club is a program at the Stadium School run by Youth Dreamers Project Class and other Stadium School students. This program helps Abbottston Elementary students from grades 1 st -3 rd grade with their homework. This program helps the students get a better understanding of their homework and what they have to do. This program not only helps with homework, but it also has fun activities for them to do so they can have fun on special occasions.

Who, when, and where?
This program happens on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m , with a staff meeting from 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. It takes place in two classrooms in the Stadium School . We invite first through fifth graders from Abbottston to come to Homework Club. We have an average of 15 students each year. Sixth through eighth graders from the Stadium School work the program. High school Youth Dreamers are supervisors. There is one adult on site all of the time.

How are students recruited?
We use flyers, posters, and word of mouth to recruit students from Abbottston. Each student fills out an application and once we have fifteen students we start a waiting list. We also use flyers, posters and word of mouth to recruit employees. They fill out an application and are interviewed by the high school Youth Dreamers. We also have a waiting list for employees.

Special Events/Anecdotes/Community Impact
by Moriah Goodman

Special Event: Lots of special things happened in Homework Club this year. We've had three parties. The first one was a Christmas party. The students made ornaments. They also made Christmas cookies and listened to a story. Another party was the Easter party. The students dyed eggs. They had an Easter egg hunt and played games. They even made their own Easter baskets. Our last party was at the end of Homework Club. They played games outside and danced. They got to say their last goodbyes.

Anecdotes:
One story that happened during the time of Homework Club was when Ms. Kristina had the BCR hat and gown because it was MSA week. When she sat the hat on the table, all the children wanted to try it on. So, all the little children walked around with the hat that was way bigger than all their heads. They all looked so funny in it and gave every one a good laugh. This is a story that happened during Homework Club.

Community Impact: I think that homework club has had a great impact on the community. Since kids go to homework club, they aren't on the streets. Also some students don't do their homework, and this helps them do it. Finally, teenagers get to make money being positive role models.

 

Daily Evaluations
by Miriam Harris, Chakia Jackson, and Cierra Cary

During Homework Club, students had to sign in everyday and evaluate their day at the end. On average, students came 21 out of 33 sessions, however, we had four students with almost perfect attendance. Two students stopped coming because of other obligations. On daily evaluations, the members scored the employees at a 4.6 out of 5 for how helpful they were. The employees scored their buddies at a 4.6 for how well he/she worked during the session.

 

End of the Year Evaluations
by Terrance Sneed, Dominique Davis, and Cierra Cary

There were many things the participants liked about our program. In our end of the year evaluations, 100% of the participants said that our Homework Club helped them in some way. 100% said they would come back next year. When we asked if their grades improved because of Homework Club, 90% said "yes," while 10% said "somewhat." This year Homework Club helped many of our kids.

 

Reflections
by Monay Lewis and Unique McNeal

This is how we reflected on Homework Club. Some of the things that worked at Homework Club were the one on one relationships. Another thing that worked at Homework Club was fall/spring sessions for employees so more people could work, and the trainings were effective. We also worked in separate rooms. We had separate supplies and folders for each buddy that kept them organized.

These are the things that didn't work.

  • One thing that didn't work was that we could have had more buddies/employees in each room. Next year, we will have 10 buddies with 10 members in each room.

  • Another thing that did not work was that because Abbottston students are dismissed at 2:35 and employees aren't dismissed until 2:50 , it was difficult to keep them occupied while they waited for Homework Club to start. Next year, we will get a pass for employees to leave class at 2:30 . Also, homework club will start at 2:45 and end at 3:45 , which will cause staff to leave at 4:15 after our meeting.

  • Another huge problem was pencils being lost and/or not sharpened. So, next year buddies will have to turn in their pencils, folders and supplies to get a snack.

These are some more changes/ plans for the future in Homework Club.

  • Some of the changes in Homework Club are to recruit earlier and have a Meet & Greet on first day.

  • We will provide refreshments, give everyone 5 questions, and let them wander around, chat, and ask questions of each other to determine our buddy pairings.

  • Also, we will go over Consequences/ Rules during that time. Then, we will create centers for them to move around. Finally, we will provide Coloring/ Math and Reading work books for them to work on or study.

FunFest Fun

Report by Regene

  • On April 23 rd , 2006 the Youth Dreamers had a block party.
  • The purpose was to bridge the gap between youth and adults within our community.

We had lots of activities where we interacted with the community. We had a table (Welcome table) set up where the people would sign in, complete a Mystery Partner Form, and CIRCLE surveys were available for youth and adults to give opinions of the perception of youth in the city. We had another table (Community art) where we painted pots with the neighbors and at the end of the day we signed the pots and gave them to the neighbors for free.

We played a lot of games where youth had to be partners with adults only. We played games such as three legged race, egg toss, balloon toss, water toss, and snack eating contest, too. The food was great. We had hotdogs, hamburgers, cake, cookies, cupcakes and juice. One of the neighbors donated his grill and another cooked.

There were about thirty guests who attended our party. We had about seven who attend Abbottston Elementary, which is a school in the community. They come to our Homework club .

This event would not have been possible without funding from State Farm. Even with the rain we had a fun day and lots of photos to prove it!

Reflections by Ryel and Jessica

As a class we reflected on the FUN FEST after.

What worked was food, which we had plenty of. Some of the community members had fun playing games, pot painting, and we gave the community members the pots that they painted. We had fun leading the games with the megaphone. We stayed within the budget and we had water balloon fights at the end.

What didn't work was the weather. The schedule was too organized! We didn't really need one for the games. There were not clear directions about pots. There were not enough people to play the Mystery Partner. The check out station evaluations were not completed because the rain came and people left. Our Community Engagement table with giant questions for community members to answer about their community and what they want from our youth center was destroyed by the rain!!!

Next time we will think about using the whole block. We also said we don't need specific times for just events. We will put Youth Dreamers in charge and they will decide when to play. Another thing we will keep in mind is that we won't keep H2O balloons out. We need clearer name tags for the Youth Dreamers. We will need a less complicated icebreaker to bring youth and adults together. If we want to paint pots we will need to buy extra ones. We think that we will have it on Saturday instead of a Sunday. We will have pie eating contest and have watermelon just to eat for snacks. We will need more board members to attend and more signs directing people to 1430 Carswell St . Instead of just flyers in mailboxes, we think we should make posters to advertise around the neighborhood and make chalk arrows on the sidewalks for people to follow. We will also give people a delicious dessert at the end if they fill out our evaluation.

 

Funfest Evaluaion by Kiah

After our Funfest, some of the Youth Dreamers took a survey/ evaluation on how they thought the day went. The 11 questions included what worked, what didn't, and how we could improve. One question asked whether or not we matched the YSA goals, and all of the Youth Dreamers said yes. When Youth Dreamers were asked whether or not we matched our goals, only six said yes and one said no. She said no because more children came than adults, and the purpose was to bring youth and adults together.

Goals of YSA

  • MOBILIZE youth to identify and address the needs of their communities through service and service learning
  • SUPPORT youth on a lifelong path of service and civic engagement
  • EDUCATE the public, the media, and policymakers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders

Goals of the Youth Dreamers

  • Provide fun activities for residents to bond where our youth center will be
  • Improve the perception of youth in Baltimore City
  • Bridge the gap between youth and adults by having fun and helping the community
  • Spread the word about the Youth Dreamers

 

My Sister's Place Report: THE OPRAH SHOW

OPRAH: Hello and Welcome to the show. Today's topic will be: The Youth Dreamers visit to My Sister's Place. I have REPORTER CYNTHIA here to show her interview with Youth Dreamer Jessica Purviance.

REPORTER CYNTHIA: Would you like to show your interview?

REPORTER CYNTHIA: Sure.

(INTERVIEW)

Reporter Cynthia: I! I am Reporter Cynthia, and I am here with Youth

Dreamer Jessica Purviance. So Jessica, can you please explain your visit to My Sister's Place?

YD Jessica: We had a Beauty Day at My Sister's Place today. Lots of Youth Dreamers brought in nail polish, make-up, hair supplies and games to play with the ladies if they weren't being beautified .

REPORTER CYNTHIA: What types of games did you all play with the ladies?

YD JESSICA: We played Mancala and Spades with them. We taught them how to play Mancala, and they taught us how to play Spades.

REPORTER CYNTHIA: Did you provide any food or snacks for the ladies to munch on after being beautified?

YD JESSICA: Yes we did. We gave them chicken, macaroni salad, brownies, chips, cookies, and chocolate-covered strawberries.

Reporter Cynthia: How many ladies were at My Sister's Place?

YD JESSICA: There were about 20-25 ladies there.

Reporter Cynthia: Do you think the ladies enjoyed the visit?

YD JESSICA: Yes I do think they enjoyed this visit. I think that this visit was more fun than all the others, and they enjoyed it more than any other time.

Reporter Cynthia: Can you tell me a moment you will never forget at My Sister's Place?

YD JESSICA: Well one of our visits, we had some of the ladies dancing which was fun to watch.

REPORTER CYNTHIA: Do you have any ideas for the next visit?

Yd Jessica: I was thinking that we could have a beauty day again in May. For the next visit I would say that we should paint pots and play games.

REPORTER CYNTHIA: Well thanks for the report. I hope the ladies enjoy your next visit.

Oprah: Thank you for sharing your interview with us, reporter Cynthia. Thank you Jessica for doing such a great job. Well everyone, this is it for today. Monday we will have the cast from Madea's Family Reunion. "SEE YA NEXT WEEK!"

[LIVE, LOCAL, LATEBREAKING INFORMATION ]

REPORTER KING : Earlier today, the Youth Dreamers visited My Sister's Place. This visit, they painted pots and played games with the ladies. They were able to keep the pots they made and they are on display in the window of My Sister's Place right now. They enjoyed a big lunch and the Youth Dreamers said "Good-bye" until next year.

 

Our Gala Auction Review

By Miriam Harris

Thanks to our many sponsors, donors, our amazing gala/auction committee and guests, the Youth Dreamers' Starry Starry Night was a huge success.

Set up went well as Miriam Harris, Christina Jackson, Kiah Broadnax, Regine White, Cierra Cary, and Chekana Reid got to the Creative Alliance early Thursday afternoon to decorate, put up tables, and hang everything up. Things looked good so far.

Later that evening, guests arrived at the event and started to enjoy themselves while bidding on auction items and enjoying the music of the Kelly Bell Band, an inner city band who plays funk, rock and blues, whom the Youth Dreamers got to perform pro bono as an in-kind donation. The band had the crowd interacting with the music and singing along.

Guests also enjoyed the fine scenery of the Creative Alliance, the downtown art gallery where the event was held. While auctioning and socializing, Tony Shore 's velvet paintings were hanging on the walls for guests to enjoy looking at.

"It's a really cool place," said Youth Dreamer Christina Jackson, 13 about the Creative Alliance.

Food was provided by Biddle Street Catering. People who came were indulged with quality white-glove service, and delicious appetizers such as crab and artichoke stuffed pastries and Swedish meatballs. Tables were generously donated by Taylor Rentals!

Another great success was the silent auction. Everything that was being auctioned off was sold. Popular items such as a beach vacation getaway, items signed by Jane Kaczmarek and the cast of Malcolm in the Middle , plus baseballs and caps signed by infamous Yankees players made a killing at the auction tables.

Our grand total of income for the event was a whopping $19,000 ! We ultimately made $14,000 after expenses.

Overall, this was a nice event which we definitely plan on having again. Good-bye for now!

Winter 2006 Activities

 

V-Wonderful Valentines Dance Fundraising Report

By Shamia Jones and Tyretta Bell

We came up with the idea of the Valentines Day party by thinking about how fun it would be for the kids. With a DJ we thought students would pay for it $5.00 was how much 1 ticket was. We planned to have more than just a DJ. We planned to have snacks/pizza, dancing, tattoos, face painting, candygrams, a DJ/music and fun. Unfortunately face painting and tattoos did not work out. Snacks/pizza, dancing, and the music/DJ worked very well.

To prepare for all of this fun, we had to get donated pizza, which we just got a discount on. We spent $3.95 on tattoos (which sadly didn't work out.) We had to write a letter to get the DJ; we had to get snacks, juice, balloons, and made decorations. There were a couple people of people involved: Ms.Kristina, Cierra (who got the DJ), and the Youth Dreamers fundraising committee. For everybody to know we were having a Valentines Day Party we placed posters on the walls around the school and gave a flyer to each student at the school.

DANCING WITH THE STARS! To do this we wrote out celebrity couple names and placed the men in one box the women in the other. Then boys would pick out of the men's box and girls would pick out of the women's box. That night they would find their match and at the end they had an option to dance in a contest with their match. We ended up not having this particular contest because the dj ended up running one himself. Face Painting! This was going to work by the boys and girls telling whoever was behind the counter what they what painted on and where. Tattoos! Boys & girls would buy a tattoo and either put it on themselves or ask someone else to. Snacks! People would have stand in a line to buy a snack and pizza. All snacks were .50 and pizza was $1.00.

The following things went well: pizza, snacks, and dancing. What didn't work follows: tattoos, face painting, and |Dancing with the Stars. We made $375.27 from the dance. We took in $425 on selling tickets, $148.10 on pizza and snacks, .50 on tattoos, $53 on key chains and photos, and $8.00 on candygrams. The cash we took in was $634.60. Our costs were $259.33. So our profit was $375.27. We even reached our goal of getting $1,000 by June and we got it in February!

9 times out of 10 we will do another fundraiser because the kids really enjoy the Youth Dreamers parties. For changes we might not sell tattoos or have face paintings, and we might section off the dance by age. We probably won't sell candygrams again. Another project class sold cookie grams and created some competition.

 

Talent Show at My Sister's Place

by Kiniasin Buie and Deron Boyce

My Sisters Place is a day shelter for women. This was the second time for us to be there this year. When we went there the second time, we put on a talent show for the ladies. My personal opinion is that they enjoyed it a lot. The way we prepared for this event was by first asking what everyone was going to bring. We also made reminders about bringing the food.

The day was fun and fast. It was the Wednesday of February 8 th . We left the school building around nine thirty. We arrived there at around ten o'clock . Then around twelve o'clock we were on our way back to the school building.

Our agenda for that day

  • First we had an ice breaker. We said our name and something about us.
  • The next thing we did was give a tribute to Coretta Scott King. That was by Anita and Regene`.
  • The next thing on our agenda was a Martin Luther King Jr. speech read by Terrance Sneed.
  • Then we did art work with the help of Kiah Broadnax.
  • We had some poetry reading with Miriam Harris and Christina Jackson. Then we had juggling by Marty Dize.
  • And finally we ended the day with food and dancing with everyone.

Our personal opinion is that it went great to see them smiling at the end. Wynette Freeman describes it as "fun and exciting." Miriam Harris describes it as "fun and enjoyable." I think that they enjoyed it because everyone participated and they were laughing. At the end of the time, they gave us a big thank you. I think that we should go again because it was fun and enjoyable for all.

I think the way that other people can help My Sister's Place is by donating clothes, money, and food. It is important to give all the help that one can with the ladies because they are really going through a rough time. Just knowing that the ladies can't do for themselves is hurtful. We will be going back again in March for a Beauty Day!

Our First Day at My Sister's Place

By Tyretta Bell and DeRon Boyce

   

My Sister's Place is a day shelter for women. We went there to share our art skills with the people. We understand that the ladies were going through hard times so we wanted to do something special for them to make them feel good about themselves. We prepared by planning how the day would go. We gave everyone a role, meaning something to do. We got together the materials we would need.

Before that day, me, DeRon, Ms.Christy, and Regene made a sign that said HOPE -n- FAITH, and we decided that we would give it to them so that they could hang it up in their center.

When we went to My Sister's Place on January 11 th , we had a great time. It was a success.

  • We first started with an icebreaker, which was the name game. It is a game when you say your name and something about yourself. That was fun. People made good comments about themselves. For example, DeRon said that he liked the drums.

  • Then we showed them how to decoupage. We showed them boxes of the ones we did in class and they made one on their own. Some people made the boxes for those that couldn't. Some made boxes for loved ones, and some made memory boxes. Some used more decorations than others. It was very exciting and the clean up wasn't as easy as we thought it would be, but at the end it turned out to be a thrill.

We think they felt special when we gave the sign to them, and we felt special for giving it to them. We could tell they enjoyed it a lot because some people were laughing and thanking us and saying that we should come again. We also think we should go again: "I really want to go back," said Ms. Christy.

If you would like to help with the ladies you should contact Ms. English who is the director or you could visit 111 W. Mulberry St . We will be going back on February 8 th to have a Talent Show and provide lunch!

FALL 2005

Demolition Day

by Terrance Sneed

The Youth Dreamers decided to have this day because the inside of the house needed some serious remodeling. There were dead squirrels and the house was just in terrible condition. The house was not in use for over fifteen years and was no where close to being in mint condition. We also needed to get a better budget together and be able to see behind the walls for plumbing, electricity, etc. Also if we planned to have a youth center there, we needed to knockout some walls.

So the Youth Dreamers had a Demolition Day to clean the house. We had to make a waiver so that if someone was injured they couldn't sue us. We decided to have the Demolition Day on Dec. 4 th , 2005 which was a Sunday because John David and Caleb for Habitat Humanity work every day except on Sunday. Also Sunday is a day where not to many people to do much.

We met with John David and Caleb to plan the Demolition Day. They told us everything we needed to know about having a Demolition Day. Our next step was to inform everybody about our up coming Demolition Day. So we made flyers and they went out to people who live on Carswell. If they weren't there, we left information to inform them of our Demolition Day. We also made signs to show volunteers where to go. We hung them up in different places between school and our house.

We also made thank you cards for Caleb and John David (because they took their day off to help us). Then we made Ms. Laura a birthday card and a painting (we also made paintings for John David and Caleb). Then we got sign in sheets, waivers, and food. After that we went to Demolition Day and got shingles off the house. We turned them into frames to thank our volunteers. In the middle of the shingle was a picture of the volunteer. On the bottom of the picture was thank you spelled out in paint.

The day started off with people eating breakfast ( muffins, strudels, and coffee). After that we went to work in the house. Some people worked on the first floor and others worked on the second floor. While the adults were at working on the house the kids were painting a door that has the words Demo Day Door engraved in it. After that Ms. Marilyn made sandwiches, and some of the Youth Dreamers helped with other foods. We also got macaroni and cheese and salad donated from Birches restaurant.

During lunch, we passed out gifts to Caleb and John David. Then everyone went back to the house until Ms. Laura Penza our architect came. The Demolition Day was on her birthday so we got her a cake. Also we did a painting for her. After a few more hours of working, the Demolition Day was over.

I think the Demolition Day was very successful and gave us bonds between people we have never known. I think we are moving along at an adequate pace with our soon to be youth center. Eventually all of our dreams will come true.

 

Some reporters from the Sun came to interview us. Cierra Cary contributed to the report. They also interviewed volunteers to see what they thought of the Demolition Day. If you want more information about Demo Day or just about us go to www.youthdreamers.org. Thank you once again to our hard working volunteers!

 

First Annual YD Retreat

By Kiah Broadnax & Regene White, 10/05/05

     

First and foremost, we would love to tell you about the Youth Dreamer Board Retreat. When we were at the retreat, we met some board members. Some of them were:

  • Ceirra Cary
  • Marty Dize
  • Nicole Franklin
  • Jenny Hope
  • Marilyn Julius
  • Chris Lawson
  • Liz Lowengard
  • Chekana Reid
  • Terrance Sneed
  • Tiffani Young_Smith
  • Regene White
  • Kiah Broadnax
  • James Bizzell
  • Jesse Arnold
  • Christy Zuccarini
  • Carl Ehrdhart
  • Kim Parson

We thank these people for taking a few hours out of their time to come to our retreat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To start the event,

  • We ate breakfast and socialized.
  • We welcomed the guests that came to the retreat.
  • We participated in a fun icebreaker called Hallo human Weengo.
  • We discussed our ground rules for the retreat and reviewed our retreat goals.
  • We also went over our accomplishments over the past four years.

After that, we broke out in fundraising committees to plan and brainstorm our fundraising ideas. We also discussed our ideas about the committees. Then, we broke into groups to discuss our yearly goals.

We then took a break to eat lunch, which Cierra Cary and Chekana Reid, who are high school youth dreamer board members brought in for us to eat. They brought in chicken, fruit kabobs, and other tasty foods.

After lunch, we wrote down the ideas that we had thought up in our fundraising committees down on chart paper to share our ideas. At the end of that we had a powerful closing to our retreat. Students who attended the retreat commented that it was fun.

We formed different fund raising committees, such as:

Gala / auction
Co-Prechairidents: Marty and ms.nicole
Slogan: We must buid this house!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marketing/publicity
Co-Prechairidents: Chris and Mr. Carl
Slogan: Sharing our dream the world

Foundation/grants
Co-Prechairidents: Terrance Sneed, Liz Lowengard, Jesse Arnold
Slogan: Building the building fund 		School-wide Fundraisers
Co-Prechairidents: Kiah, Ms.K
Slogan; We fundraise in many school wide ways
Art fundraisers
Co-Prechairidents: Christy Zuccarini, Cierra Cary
Slogan: Art is smart if you do your part! 		 

We ended the day with a fabulous pumpkin carving contest!! See you next year!

 

Halloween party Fundraising Report

By Christina Jackson & James Bizzel

Hello! our names are Christina Jackson and James Bizzel. On October 31, 2005, from 4 pm to 5:45 pm we threw a Halloween party at the Stadium School. So now we are going to give you an update on how this party turned out to be a great success.

Planning
Every Wednesday the Youth Dreamers come together for the whole day of school to do nothing but everything related to the Youth Dreamers. That Wednesday we brainstormed ideas/ activities to have at the Halloween Fundraiser. We had so many ideas that we couldn't decide on what ideas to choose and which ideas to save for another time. The whole class voted on what ideas to have for the party and we all chose

    • Make Me a Mummy
    • Eye Ball Estimation
    • Mask Making
    • Face Painting\
    • Raffle Tickets
    • Snacks and Free Driinks.

Then the Youth Dreamers and the Board members filled out a volunteer sheet so we knew that everybody had a job to do at the party. (Look at the attachment to this sheet.) Many people had jobs like bringing in baked goods, taking pictures, selling baked goods, etc. A couple of people sold tickets and that was also a big success. So from there, we had a party planned and hopefully it would be a big success!

On Wednesday we started to think of ways that we could advertise a flyer for this idea for a Halloween Party . So we started brainstorming all of the ideas of advertisements and planned all of the events and volunteering for the party. It took a lot of work, but we got it done.

The Party
The weekend went by and the party was on Monday. Everybody in the Youth Dreamers and additional volunteers all went down to the gym and decorated and set up the arrangement in the gym. People set up the backdrop for the picture taking, many volunteers set up face painting, mask making, the snack stand, make me a mummy, and the eyeballs. So after that people started coming in.

When the party started it was mostly 7th and 8th graders and a couple of 6th , 5th , and 4th graders. What happened was people were mainly dancing and taking lots of pictures. There were a lot of adult board members such as, Ms. Liz, Ms. Jenny, Ms. Marilyn, Ms. Christy, and many more. They were mostly selling snacks or supervising some of the events. We charge $ 2.00 for tickets. Some people bought it from class room Youth Dreamers and some paid at the door.

The things that really worked were the tickets sales, snacks, free drinks, make me a mummy. Some of the things that didn't really work were the photos because the printer was out of control, the raffle tickets, the eyeball estimation and the part about announcing the Costume Winners.

The Good News!
But the good news is the amount we made off this fundraiser. In ticket sales before the party we made $77.50. In ticket sales at the door we made $42.03. The snacks/ Eyeball estimation came to $50.50. The Raffle Tickets and Photos came to $19.50. Lunchtime bake sales with leftover snacks came to a total of $51.50. Finally the Grand Total came to a gigantic total of $241.03.

Christina's Reflection: In my opinion the party was a big success and we made about $200 out of the whole project. The next time we should have activities for 4th & 5th graders like reading, and the Club Mix was what the 6th-8th graders were dancing to. `

James' Reflection: In my opinion I think the party was all right and I would like to do it again next year. It was a good idea. But there should've been more activities. Many of the people who came to the party felt like we should definitely do this again some other time, because everyone really enjoyed themselves! So to wrap it up!

The Halloween Party was Spooktacular!

 

A Tour of the Future Youth Dreamers Youth Center

By Christina Jackson, 8th Grader

On September 23, 2005 Ms.Kristina, Chris Lawson, Laura Penza, Mr. Marco, and I (Christina Jackson) went into the house on 1430 Carswell Street . Mr. Marco tore down the unity sign separating us from discovering the house's history.

The First Floor
When we first went in, the first thing we saw was the staircase leading upstairs. We walked over to the room next to us which will be the Lounge with bean bags and a couple of computers. The future Lounge room was really big and will be really beautiful once it gets fixed up.

Right next to the staircase there will be the reception desk/the check in area. Next to the Lounge room was the game room which I personally thought was too small for a pool table and other items.

Next to the Game room was an enormous, messed up, gigantic kitchen. In the kitchen there was a lot of paint on the floor it looked like a 1 year old went crazy with 3 gallons of paint!Then we went through a room that led to the stairwell that was supposed to be the meeting room, but we would have to fit a really small table and only a couple chairs.

The Basement
After that we discovered a door that goes to the basement. Finally, this is the door we have been looking for all along! One by one we all went down. First Mr. Marco, then Chris Lawson, then me (Christina Jackson), then Ms. Laura Penza, and lastly Ms.Kristina.

We all stood there in suspense. We were the second and probably the last people to look in the basement unless we go in the house again. The steps were really narrow and creepy. On the other side of the stairs was a really small space, but that will have to get filled in when we get the house renovated.

In the basement there were a lot of ancient artifacts such as an old rusted washing machine, an old heater, and a sink. Out of the whole house in my opinion the basement and the 3 rd floor had the most light.

The Second Floor
Anyway, we went up to the 2nd floor and we saw 3 rooms-- 2 small and one big. One of those rooms would be the office. The other would be for storage, and the other room will be the Homework/Silent room.

The Attic
Moments later we worked our way up to the attic. Those stairs were also narrow but not creepy. When we went upstairs, we saw the attic. It is amazing. On our way upstairs we saw some of the floor boards missing and in the floor was concrete. The floor was really dusty and old.

The plan we had for the attic was to be a dance room where we would had recitals and possibly art shows. But when we saw the condition of the art room, we came to a conclusion that the attic isn't a place that 5-15 people can jump in the air in. The attic would probably be used for storage, costume dressing, or the office room. But we can still use it as a showroom for our future pieces of art.

Outside
After that we came outside on the porch where Mr. Marco said he wants to observe the outside of the house. In the future Lounge room Mr. Marco saw some light coming in from outside, like there was a hole in the wall. By the time we all went outside Mr. Marco ripped off the shingles from the house and we saw something under that was the original house shingles. That means someone recovered the house with a whole different design. Mr. Marco said, "The people who covered the house in yellow shingles should have left it the same because this is a beautiful design."

With Mr. Marco, we decided that our next step is to have a demolition day to tear down the walls and pull out all of the junk. That way, we can really see what we are working with. We hope to find many volunteers to help us with this step.

After that we watched Mr. Marco put the Unity sign separating us again from our future Youth Dreamer Center .

We all said, "Bye House"

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Summer 2005 Activities

CRABTOWN PROJECT
This past Spring, the Youth Dreamers wrote a proposal to the Baltimore Crabtown Project. The Baltimore Crabtown Project involves fiberglass crab sculptures that were produced and distributed to select artists and art students for painting/creating. Completed sculptures are placed at well traveled sites throughout the city. Crabs are auctioned off at the end of summer. All of the money that is raised goes to Baltimore City Public Schools.

The Youth Dreamers' proposal was to make an "All Caught Up in Baltimore " crab that would be wrapped in a net and have pictures of different places in Baltimore all over it. We received funding and Pat Cruz [artist] decided to work with us. Our first step was to run around town to take digital photos of what makes Baltimore special. We printed the pictures in black and white, copied them, colorized them with colored pencils, arranged them on an outline of the crab, and finally glued them onto crab. We spent a full day on Saturday plus some days after school working on it. The Baltimore Body Shop generously agreed to seal the crab for weather protection if we put a photo of the shop on our crab. We agreed! You can find our crab at

THANKS TO MS. PAT, THE YOUTH DREAMERS AND THE MICA STUDENTS WHO HELPED OUT!!!

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THE YOUTH DREAMERS MAKE A VIDEO!
This past Spring and Summer, the Youth Dreamers worked alongside Tanisha from Wide Angle Media to create a video to send to Extreme Makeover Home Edition and various funders. This was a long and fascinating process during which Youth Dreamers participated in lessons about Camera Operation/Angles/Shots, How to take a Script to a Storyboard, and How to Create a Shot List. Additionally, Youth Dreamers wrote a script together, which was revised and edited with help from our board members. They spent hours filming the video in and around the school. Our cast included Youth Dreamers, board members, supporters, and members of Homework Club. Once the filming was done, 2-3 Youth Dreamers went to the Wide Angle office on several occasions to log and edit the video on an E-Mac.

With additional help from LaTanya Jones , a parent of a Youth Dreamer; Bill Engstrand , a teacher and film expert at the Stadium School ; and Ebon Miller , a teacher and audio-visual pro at the Stadium School , the students were able to complete the video, send it to Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and begin sending it to funders in July. Soon, we hope to link you to our video from our website.

HUGE THANKS TO TANISHA, MS. JONES, MR. BILL, MR. EBON, SUE FROM WIDE ANGLE, GIN FROM WIDE ANGLE, OUR BOARD MEMBERS, AND OUR MANY SUPPORTERS for assisting us in this process! Now we will be able to shoot our own videos whenever we need to!

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THE CIVIC LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
This summer, the Stadium School Youth Dreamers, Inc. hosted the Civic Leadership Institute for one day on July 8 th . The Civic Leadership Institute is a three week summer service-learning program for academically talented students, 10 th grade through 12 th grade. Each Institute integrates challenging academic work, community service, hands-on field experience, guest speakers and facilitated debates and discussions. The Institutes take place in two locations: Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Northwestern University in Chicago .

Fifteen high school students from states such as Massachusetts , California , Pennsylvania and even Hawaii came to spend a day with the Youth Dreamers to learn about our huge service-learning project. With the day hosted by Zakiyah Abdulghaffar, Chardonnay Cary, Cierra Cary, and Myresha Williams , high school students participated in an Icebreaker and Youth Dreamer Jeopardy. They were able to take part in a question/answer session and asked the Youth Dreamers for advice that related to the plans they had for community projects in their home states after the Institute. In the afternoon, all students worked together to design murals for the boards that cover the windows and doors of our future youth center. These murals were themed around particular words like believe, hope, peace, and love. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, so rather than painting the murals, everyone went to the house to pick up trash.

Excited about the murals, the high school students asked to come back for another day to paint the boards. This happened one week later and was a huge success! Now, when you visit 1430 Carswell St ., you will be greeted by bright purple, yellow, and green murals designed and painted by youth from all over the country and, of course, our very own Youth Dreamers!!!

 

 

 

CIRCLE GRANT
Youth Dreamers met Mondays and Wednesdays throughout June to prepare for collecting oral histories from some of the residents of Carswell St . They designed a two part plan to address their research question, "What is the perception of youth in Baltimore and why does this perception exist?" The first part includes taking oral histories and photographs of several of the residents of Carswell St. and turning these into an Exhibit that will be on permanent display at the youth center to honor those who have lived on this street for many years. The second part of their research will begin in the Fall with the classroom Youth Dreamers. That will involve creating and collecting surveys from youth and adults in the city; researching statistics on juvenile crime; contacting principals of area high schools to gather statistics related to graduation rates, drop outs, etc.; and putting all of this information into a document/presentation for the media and City Hall. We open to find statistics that will persuade the media to report more positive youth activities and will show people in power how important it is to support youth and help them foster positive relationships with adults in the community.

After writing a script and learning how to use our digital recorders, Youth Dreamers set out to conduct their oral histories. On Friday, July 29 th , Sara Neufeld from The Baltimore Sun shadowed Chris and Shelia as they interviewed Janet Stewart of 1413 Carswell St . After interviewing more Youth Dreamers on Wednesday, August 3 rd , the article will be finished and published!

Youth Dreamers were also able to take part in unique opportunities such as:

  • Attending a lecture by Tim Rollins, a community artist from New York who worked with youth in the Bronx after school to create artwork based on classic literature.
  • Participate in a class on Oral Histories alongside all of the MICA graduate students by Elaine Eff, of the Maryland Historic Trust.
  • Meet with youth researchers from Indianapolis who were funded through CIRCLE and just recently finished their research. Their project was focused on giving students voice in the breakdown of their high schools into smaller community schools. We met at Ben's Chili Bowl, a historic diner in Washington , D.C.

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GRANTS/FUNDRAISING
Ms. Kristina (with the help of MANY OTHERS) wrote a grant to the A-Teams to fund our after school art program next year and the Summer Arts Program that we hope to have again next summer. A-Teams fund after school programs that allow youth to practice, master, and display skills related to the arts, academics, and/or athletics. These programs must be taught by a "skilled professional." Our "skilled professional" is Christy Zuccarrini, who will be our MACA student for the year. With a strong background in photography, Christy hopes to set up a darkroom with Youth Dreamers, teach them how to take photographs, teach them how to develop photographs, etc. We asked for money to set up a darkroom, as well as purchase five cameras in the A-Teams grant. We expect that Christy will work with/train the Youth Dreamers on Wednesdays and then work with the Youth Dreamers to teach an after school art class on photography for one semester and one for creating community art another semester.

We also wrote to State Farm, requesting a 20% match of the A-Teams grant to help with funding of the after school programs.

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After School and SummerProgramming

Maryland Institute College Of Art (MICA) Community Art Program
Spring and Summer 2005

By Cierra Cary

Description of the Program
During the summer of 2005, middle school and elementary aged children from various Baltimore City neighborhoods were chosen to participate in this free five-week exciting and enriching arts-focused program at seven sites throughout the 14 th District. The children were closely supervised by a two-person team of graduate students in the Masters of Arts in Community Arts Program (MACA) at MICA and an adult supervisor. In addition, two high school interns were paid to assist the graduate students in running the program, after attending numerous trainings alongside the graduate students.

Preparation for the Art Program
During the Spring of 2005, the Youth Dreamers were involved in the planning of the MICA/MACA Community Arts Program for all seven sites in the 14 th District. We designed applications for the High School Interns, we held and led interviews with the interns, and we helped with the placement of the interns at the seven sites. Along with Ms. Kristina, one Youth Dreamer attended weekly meetings to help set up five week summer program. The Youth Dreamers designed flyers and applications to recruit students from Abbottston Elementary School and The Stadium School.

During the Program
Four Youth Dreamers worked at three different sites where they helped come up with art projects such as building cities out of construction paper, recycled items and cardboard boxes; writing and presenting plays; and painting portraits.

At the Youth Dreamers site they did many art projects like portraits, nametag hats, creating buildings out of cardboard boxes, mosaics, and writing a play.

Future Plans
In the Fall of 2005, we will have several after school programs including an after school art program planned and run with a student from the MACA program at MICA. This MACA student will work with the Youth Dreamers in the classroom on Wednesdays, in addition to working at the after school program. We will be doing different community art projects, with a focus on photography. We will also be a site for the next summer arts program in the summer of 2006.

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VALENTINES WORKSHOP

by Miriam Harris,Irekka Jones,and Wynette Freeman.

Description of Program
Valentines Workshop is a chance for all students at the Stadium School to get into the holiday spirit by coming by for one hour on Tuesday afternoons. During that hour, they create and design Valentine art thought up by the Youth Dreamers. The Youth Dreamers went online for ideas such as cards, heart mobiles, Madlibs, and paper mache flowers. We ran it from 3:00 to 4:00 on Tuesdays in February.

Why We Decided To Do It
The Youth Dreamers came up with this idea because we wanted to start another program after school at the Stadium School , as we work towards getting the house. We wanted the children at our school to get into the holiday spirit and have some fun. Some students don't have the opportunity to do art projects in school.

Who Attends It
The children who attend it are from the Stadium School in grades four through eight. We invited about twenty people each Tuesday in 2005.

How We Ran It
The Youth Dreamers run the program. Our responsibilities are to keep an eye on the children and make sure that they are occupied. When the children come in, they get a color code nametag. The color on the nametag tells them what table to go to. They go to this table, which has two Youth Dreamers in charge. These Youth Dreamers call themselves Cupid. After twenty minutes, each group rotates to a new table to do another art project. Once they have gone through all the tables,V alentine's Workshop is over. We send them home with a Hershey's Kiss, a Valentines pencil, and a bag with their crafts, plus extra supplies.

For this program we needed paper plates, markers, crayons, string, construction paper, cards, and candy. To pay for these supplies, we had two bake sales. We didn't want students to have to pay to come to the program, so that is why we had the bake sales instead.

To advertise this program, we made announcements over the intercom, made signs, and had hearts for people to put their names in posted outside of the office. Each week we pulled 20 names out the hearts and then passed out notes to each person invited.

Evaluation
To determine if the program was successful, we kept attendance sheets. In 2005, we had many snow days in February which made attendance low. We missed one day completely and because of other missing days, students forgot to come. We expected twenty people each time, but we ended up with about ten.

After every workshop, we reflected as a group about what worked and what would make it better. The children who did get a chance to come enjoyed it and spread lots of Valentines joy throughout the school.

Future Plans
Based on the enthusiasm of Valentines Workshop, we will do it again. In future years, we will schedule them for Monday through Friday, rather than on three separate Mondays. That way, children won't have to remember for a full week, it will be easier to reschedule if there are snow days, and we can remind children more effectively during that week. We will invite younger Abbottston students and pay Youth Dreamers a stipend for working.

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HOMEWORK CLUB FINAL REPORT (May '05)

by Myeisha Johnson, Chardonnay Cary, AuSha Washington (not pictured), and Chris Lawson

Description of the Program The name of our program is the Homework Club. The program is on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:00 pm to 4:00pm . During this hour, Youth Dreamers tutor the elementary students who wish for help on their homework. Each Youth Dreamer "Buddy" is paired with one to two "Members" for every session. The groups stay the same throughout the program so that Buddies and Members really know each other well. Students work on homework and then eat snacks. Sometimes there are special events, like learning about the meaning of Cinco de Mayo and then eating homemade salsa.

Why We Decided to Do It
Students at Abbottston Elementary were not doing their homework because they needed help or did not feel like doing it. The Youth Dreamers came up with the idea to help these students and to motivate them in a positive environment. The Youth Dreamers will have exactly this type of program at their youth center.

Who attends the Homework Club?
First through fifth graders from Abbottston Elementary attended Homework Club. Altogether there were 17 Abbottston students who attended. All students must complete a Member Registration sheet that is signed by a parent in order to attend.

How is Homework Club Run?
The Youth Dreamers work at Homework Club. Their main role is to tutor their Abbottston "Members". Also, the Youth Dreamer workers make sure that their members do their homework. They monitor when the members get snack and allow them to play enrichment games if they finish their homework early. The Youth Dreamers are supervised in their duties by an adult.

To run the Homework Club the Youth Dreamers needed school supplies and snacks. To pay for the things that were needed, the Youth Dreamers wrote a grant to Metlife. The school supplies needed included colored pencils, crayons and pencils. Each member gets his/her own baggie of supplies and a folder with a sign-in sheet, an evaluation sheet for each day, an interest inventory and extra paper.

The Youth Dreamers spread the word about Homework Club by making posters, announcements and by word of mouth.

Evaluation
To determine if the program was successful, they monitored attendance with attendance sheets. Over the course of 13 days, the average attendance was 11, with 17 students officially registered as members. According to the evaluation forms filled out daily by the buddies and members,

  • Members gave their Youth Dreamer buddies an average rating of 5 for "how much my buddy helped me." The scale was between 1 and 5, with 5 being the highest rating.
  • Youth Dreamer buddies gave their members an average rating of 4 for "how well he/she worked."
  • Data calculated by Morgan Jones and Miriam Harris

There ended up being a Waiting List of at least eight Abbottston students who wanted to come to the Homework Club.

Many students were sad when it ended. It was clear that the younger children looked forward to coming to the class.

An End of the Program Evaluation showed:

Question

Percent who tallied "Yes"

Percent who tallied "No"

Percent who tallied "somewhat" OR "not sure"

Did HW Club help you?

100%

0%

0%

Did you enjoy HW Club?

100%

0%

0%

If we offer it next year, would you come?

91%

9%

0%

Did your grades improve because of HW Club?

82%

9%

9%

*Data calculated by Marty Dize

 

 

 

Youth Dreamer employees had excellent attendance, with 16 of them contributing 284.5 hours over 21 days.

Future Plans
Many things went well with Homework Club this year. There was good attendance and buddy participation. Organizing folders and supply bags for each buddy ensured that every buddy was on task and had supplies. Youth Dreamers had very good attendance, worked hard, came up with great ideas, respected others, and stepped in for each other when they needed to.

Some things did not work well. Youth Dreamers problem solved along the way. They began a "Three Strikes and You're Out" policy to discreetly handle behavior problems. The first "strike" was a warning, the second "strike" a call home, and the third "strike" being asked to leave the program. Only one student received three strikes. Sometimes students did not come with homework. At first, many finished early and had nothing to do. Youth Dreamers created Speed Drills, copied Madlibs, and created educational games to fill up this time.

The Youth Dreamers will work over the summer to create a Fraction Handbook with refresher lessons for themselves, find Handwriting Practice, brainstorm different strategies to make tutoring more interactive and fun, get handbooks of different skills for when students are done early, and get some training from a first or second grade teacher.

In the future the Youth Dreamers wish to move the Homework Club to their own center. But while they wait, they plan to continue to have it at the Stadium School . They will expand it to two rooms by recruiting more Youth Dreamers (and other middle school students) to work there. They will also continue to meet after each Homework Club to reflect on what works, what doesn't, and what changes need to be made. They will use these reflections to plan for other programs and classes.

 

Youth Dreamers Seek Zoning Ruling for Youth Center


by Chardonnay Cary, Deandre Marshall, and Terrance Sneed

The YD Sun

Just in from Youth Works. We just recognized a young group called the Youth Dreamers who had a zoning change at City Hall on September 28, 2004. The Youth Dreamers needed a zoning change for the house they are purchasing to become their Youth Center.

At first Mrs.Cassandra Cary spoke. She is the parent of two Youth Dreamers and a member of the church who currently owns the house. Because there was opposition from residents at the hearing, the zoning board members told them to go outside and discuss their concerns. The residents and the Youth Dreamers decided to postpone the zoning hearing and have a community meeting at Homestead United Methodist Church, located at 1500 Gorsuch Ave., before they made another date for the zoning hearing.

On October 2, 2004 the Youth Dreamers and Carswell residents met at Homestead United Methodist Church. Before the meeting started Ms.Cindy, who works with Community Conferencing, came and sat down with the Youth Dreamers. She asked them how they felt about the community concerns, and how long they had been working on this project.

When the meeting started with everyone, the Youth Dreamers had Astarte Morton, their Youth President, speak first. Then the residents had Mr.Damien speak for the community. He only had concerns about drugs, loud kids, vandalism, and gun use. Then the Youth Dreamers spoke again about how they could solve these problems and concerns. After everyone spoke, they decided to have a 5 on 5 meeting, made up of 5 Youth Dreamers and 5 residents of Carswell. After this meeting, the Youth Dreamers met with the CHM Executive Board to continue to iron out community concerns.

December 21 Zoning Hearing
Two months later, the board of the Youth Dreamers and the residents of Carswell decided to have the zoning hearing on December 21,2004. The Youth Dreamers practiced their zoning presentation many times before the date. The Youth Dreamers had support at the hearing from Laura Penza, their pro bono architect; Ron Shelley, the director of the Stadium School; students from Villa JulieCollege; their probono student attorneys from UMD; and many board members.

Today was the zoning hearing and the Sun is right here at City Hall with the Youth Dreamers. Some of the Youth Dreamers would like to say what they learned and how they feel about the whole situation.

''I think that zoning was a great experience and we learned a lot from it,'' said Zakiyah Abdulghaffar. "Although we went through a whole lot of struggles, it was worth it."

Kiaira Weems said, ''The zoning made others see that all youth aren't bad, and that they can do anything if they just put their mind to it.''

Christina Jackson thought, "I felt scared and nervous. I thought that we weren't going to get the approval."

''I think that the zoning hearing was very good and went well, and I can't wait to build our youth center,'' said Shantell Bell.

The Youth Dreamers appeal was approved in January! Board members and students alike were thrilled by the outcome. Chardonnay Cary said, ''I felt that we have worked very hard to get this house. And I also think that the zoning board made the right choice picking us because we went through ups and downs in this whole situation."

Next up, the Youth Dreamers will buy the house and find a general contractor to do the renovations.

As you know what the Youth Dreamers say, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." You're hearing it live from City Hall. Good day!!

 

 

  
 

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