 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Stadium School Youth Dreamers Phone 410-952-7003
FAX: 410-366-2762 youthdreamer@hotmail.com |
|
|
Do You Know What You Need to Know? Youth Dreamers Health Club 2009 Do you know what you need to know about Health Club? Well we’re going to tell you. On February 10, 2009 we began our first class of Health Club. Health Club is an after school program to provide teenage girls with education and a chance to express themselves about issues related to health. Every Tuesday from 3:15-4:45 we gather fifteen to twenty girls to discuss problems about health on their minds. From 4:45 to 5:00 staff meet to review the day and plan future sessions. We have many diverse programs with the Youth Dreamers. We decided to have Health Club because we wanted to enhance the knowledge of health among girls in grades 6th – 8th. We also wanted to do this because we felt that teens needed to know more about different issues that are happening in the world about sex. We wanted to prevent teenagers from making poor choices by providing them with a place to discuss issues related to health and sexuality with experts in the field. The people who came up with the idea were the facilitators Jessica White, Ciara Hall, Jada Harris, and Courtney Hughes. We had much support of Youth Dreamers to contribute to the success of the Health Club. The experts who taught in our program donated their time and expertise (thank you!). We had many participants in this Health Club. We thought that grades 6-8 would be appropriate for the topics we would be discussing. We had many topics, such as sex, birth control, teen pregnancy, dating/age appropriate choices, balanced relationships, hygiene drugs including smoking, power of the media, body changes, peer pressure, self empowerment, self esteem/body image, dealing with trauma, gossip/friendship, HIV, sexual identity. Even though we wanted 15 to 20 girls we had nine consistent girls that came. The location we had the Health Club at was the Joy Wellness Center, better known as the Shepherds Clinic. We also had much support from them, too. (Thank you!) To run this program we had some experts by the names of Ms. Rasheeda, Ms. Nicole, Ms. Mary, and Ms. Ola. Ms.Rasheeda came in and talked about why we should wait to have sex and she discussed how boys and men are promiscuous when it comes to women. Ms. Nicole is the author of the novel Glori which is a book about her own experiences with teen pregnancy. She came and discussed questions that the young ladies had about the book and about teen pregnancy. Ms. Mary came and discussed anatomy. We wished she would’ve talked about acupuncture. Ms. Ola discussed healthy relationships and had the girls sing and dance. The facilitators led each class with: an icebreaker, reading of the pledge, a journal topic, an introduction of the expert for the day, then after her, a closing. This year we wrote to Tyra for funding. We made a huge book to convince her to fund the program because it matched a lot of the issues that she talked about on her show. We didn’t hear back from her. We spent $147.47 at Staples, $423.75 on Glori and $20 on the healthy relationships DVD from Kids on the Hill. We spent 62.25 at Micheals and a total of $872 on student stipends for the facilitators. We also spent $222 so that 8 of the girls in the program could attend “She Matters” a Health Expo for girls that took place on a Saturday in Owings Mills. Everyone loved it. Even though we didn’t get funding from Tyra, we had some program funding from other grants that we could use. When the program was over, the staff reflected and we also had the participants complete evaluations. Our staff and participants were happy with the discussions, icebreakers, the book Glori, journals, participation, snack, the experts, the pillows, the location, and the health conference. When participants were asked what they learned from Ms. Nicole, they said, “You have to make choices that help you in life,” “How boys can lie to keep girls,” and “How to be a young woman and about life and boyfriends.” Other comments included, “I liked the journals because I could express how I feel about certain topics,” “The Health Club was very educational and the work space was really nice,” “We were like a family and discussed everything,” “It was really fun to have something creative to do instead of going home,” and “I learned how to love myself.” After a session with Ms. Rasheeda who encouraged the girls to talk to their moms about sex and other health issues, one participant came the next week and said, “I went home and talked to my mom that day.” Some improvements we will make include making sessions longer, bringing back Homework time, finding a way to have more consistent attendance, and getting more funding. We will also group the girls differently each week, make sure to cover STD’s (we ran out of time), and also cover sexual harassment. All students wrote that they would definitely come to Health Club again and they scored it a 9.7 on average out of 10. We were very happy with our results and THANK EVERYONE who made Health Club a success!!!
My Sister’s Place Report My Sister’s Place is shelter for woman in need. We go there to help them. We do an art activity and serve them lunch. The teams prepare by first figuring out what our art project would be and then we would come up with an icebreaker to get everyone comfortable. We would pick people to do different things someone would tell them the YD blurb. Half of the Youth Dreamers get ready for lunch with Mr. Mick while the other half work on the art project with the ladies and Ms. Sarah. Once we finish the art project, half of the group would stay back and clean the art project. The other half of the art group would go meet up with the kitchen crew and start serving the ladies. If there was enough time we would eat there. We went to My Sister’s Place on May 20, 2009 at 10:30. Our agenda for that day was to make a mosaic flag that we were gong to auction off at the Housewarming Party and then we made 3 more little ones that will stay there. Although there were not a lot of people, we got a lot done. In the kitchen with Mr. Mick, we cut watermelons, carried in ice cream, washed dishes, and served ravioli, meatballs, salad, fruit, and ice cream. We served a lot of women. I think the visit went well we got a lot done. Jessica White felt that the visit was great with the amount of people who went. (Only 7 Youth Dreamers went since Project Class was over for the year.) Ms. K felt that the visit was great. She really liked the mosaic and she thought the ladies enjoyed it. “I think the ladies enjoyed it a lot. They looked like they were having fun.” Next time we are going have the ladies fill out a quick evaluation to tell us what we should do next time. Over all it was a good trip.
Homework Club End of Year Report Description: By Daisha Washington
Whoever wants to work at HW Club has to complete an application, do an interview, and then go through mini-training. A maximum of 20 students are hired to work. Mini-training consists of learning ways to work with AE buddies, being a tutor, being responsible with a job, and much more. High school students that have worked in the past usually supervise. If we have 20 students already and more would like to apply, we start a waiting list. Overall HW Club is a great place for AE buddies to come and receive help with homework. It is also a great place for Youth Dreamer buddies to experience a career in tutoring!
Special Events and Community Impact
Evaluation
After looking at our Daily Evaluation Sheets (students fill these out at the end of each session),we gathered information on the average scores on two questions. On average, Abbottston students scored their Stadium School buddy a 4 out of 5 for how much the Stadium School buddy helped them. From the YD buddy side, our average rating was a 3.4 out of 5 for how well the staff felt the elementary students worked. According to the final evaluations of the little ones, 89% of kids said Homework Club helped a lot and 11% said not much! 75% enjoyed HW Club a lot, 13% some, and 12% not much. 50% said their grades improved from HW Club, the other 50% said it did not. 85% of kids said they would come next year. The kids enjoyed reading, homework, coloring, buddies, games, and snacks. The kids didn’t like that there weren’t enough games. Also, they suggested we have more reading workbooks, more snacks, math games, outside time, and science books. According to the final evaluations of the middle and high school staff, 8 people loved being a tutor, 6 students like it a lot, and 3 thought it was okay. 8 people thought journals were okay rather than loving it or liking it but, one person did write, “Journals were a great way to express feelings!” People felt that the training sessions were okay. Only one didn’t like it, 4 loved it and 4 liked it. Majority of the people had excellent attendance! Plenty of people gained their training skills! 10 students gained their responsibility skills. Not many students improved in negotiating. 10 students learned how to get along with others, 5 did not. 9 students increased their creativity and 13 students increased their professionalism. Every evaluation stated they scored 82% or above on their “End of the Month Evaluation” but 1. The evaluations stated that the best parts of Homework Club were the buddies and the special opportunities Homework Club gives you. Evaluations stated that they would change the time and have more challenging text books. People said that Homework Club was really worth it and educational, full of enrichment, excitement, and experiences! Reflections
Even though we had a good year, there are still things that didn’t work! The things that didn’t work are: the cafeteria for yoga, timecards, training skills to tutor the kids, and kids coming without homework. These things need to change. We need a solution on what we can do better! So, we sat down and thought about our problems and what we can do to improve them. These are our ideas: Ms.K will give passes to the TSS buddies to go and pick up their own buddies or we can walk the little ones over to the YD house and let them play or take an art class until 3:20. From 3:20-4:30 we will do homework. From 4:30 to 5:00 we will have a staff meeting. We will continue to have a sticker chart and get a time stamper for the time cards. We will only hire 7th and 8th graders for tutoring next year. So, let’s make this happen and SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!!
My Sister’s Place Report My Sister's Place is a place for women in transition in downtown Baltimore. We go every month to help them get faith in themselves and bring joy to their day. We prepared ourselves by putting together what we wanted to do at My Sister’s Place for the day. We figured that out and got the materials together for our day. After, we were done planning and were ready to go. We went to My Sisters Place on April 15, 2009. We went at 10:30 and left at 1:00. We taught an art class on flowers. They had to tell about a time they got or saw a flower. We gave them card stock flowers to write a story on. Then we served them lunch. We ate macaroni, meatballs, salad, and fruit. We helped Mr. Mick prepare and setup. Some of the ladies were grateful for our services. From going to My Sister’s Place, I think it went great. Once we got there some of the ladies seemed shy and afraid to talk but when we did art with them, they seemed to open up. “I think they really loved it and it made them happy,” states Danielle Parham, a Youth Dreamer at the Stadium School. I really had fun and enjoyed myself, but at the same time I had mixed feelings. I was sad and happy at the same time because we saw all these women that were homeless at My Sister’s Place, but yet some were so strong and they didn’t give up hope. Khamari and I met this lady named Ms. Rita and I asked her “How long have you been coming to My Sister’s Place?” And she replied, “I have been homeless for 16 years.” After that I felt so sad for her, but she seemed so strong and I am glad she is that way. I think that the ladies enjoyed themselves and had the best time of their lives. We should do art next visit. We can make butterflies and flowers so if someone wants to do something different they can do the butterflies. We should serve something different and with bigger juices. We should switch the food group with the art group next.
FunFest 2009 Written by Chastity Neaves, Precious Hicks, Kevon Dix, and Shakira Doughty The Youth Dreamers held our fifth annual FunFest block party on Saturday, April 25th thanks to generous funding from the PNC Neighborhood Grant Program. Preparation: Some of the things we did to prepare were we made a huge list of things to buy and a budget. Then we made invitations and flyers and signs for Homework Club and the community. We planned for the stepping stones by preparing the glass and making designs with our community artist Ms. Sarah. Then we had to order tables and chairs and recruit volunteers to help. We created a community survey and a sign in sheet. We made a scavenger hunt through the house based on the Youth Dreamers and decided on a variety of games we would use. We also wrote a letter to Giant for food. We created nametags, a visual map of where everything would go, and we got a grill, charcoal and food. Before our big event, we gave flyers to the Shepherd’s Clinic for their patients. Finally, we gathered everything for the Welcome Station including flyers, sign in sheets, nametags, pens, workshop proposals, volunteer sheets, and a Schedule of Events. FunFest!: The FunFest was up and out! The set up was great with lots of Youth Dreamers helping with the tables, chairs, banners, and stations. We had enough tables and chairs for all. We made sure that the Welcome Table was set up for sign in and information. We had stations like: the Welcome Table, face painting, chalk drawing, games, mosaic stepping stones and the scavenger hunt. Some activities we had through the day were slippery melon race, water balloon toss, watermelon eating contest, egg spoon race, and much, much more. The clean up went well, too. We had a total of about nineteen Youth Dreamers who came to FunFest. Almost all of our board members came. Our total amount of community people who came were 40-50 people. It was a big success in terms of attendance. After, we reflected in the classroom and by using the community surveys. Some things that worked were the Welcome Table, face painting, slippery melon, balloon toss, set up, clean up, the mosaic stepping stones table, and lunch. The lunch was VERY YUMMY thanks to Mr. Matt, our volunteer griller. Also, the mosaic stepping stones table was fun—especially for the two Youth Dreamer parents who came. Face painting was cool. A lot of the younger kids enjoyed getting cool animals on their faces. What didn’t quite work was the scavenger hunt and the music. The IPOD stereo didn’t seem to function, but there was still something to listen to. Next year, we will have sunscreen since a lot of people got sunburned. Also, we will have louder music and more water because we ran out. Individuals who completed our community survey want to see poetry and dance classes at our youth center. They also want to see parents, fashion classes, and a soup kitchen. Many people want to volunteer at our center by doing everything from construction, to events, to supervising, to mentoring. The average score for FunFest from the community feedback was a 9.5 out of 10, and everyone but one person said they would come back next year. The Youth Dreamers would like to thank everyone who participated in this extremely awesome event! We would like to thank the PNC Neighborhood Grant Program for making all of this possible. We would also like to thank everyone who volunteered. THANK YOU SO MUCH AND COME AGAIN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello, our names are J’Lyssa and Chastity. On October 30, 2008 we had a Halloween party hosted by the Youth Dreamers, from 4 – 6:00 p.m. It took place in The Stadium School Gym. Now we are going to give you an update on how the party went. To plan the party we first brainstormed our ideas down on a chart paper. Next we created tombstones, candy bags, posters, and activities to have at the party. At the party we a snack table, photo booth, face painting, raffle tickets, a haunted house [the stage], and a costume contest/ dance contest. In the haunted house we first came up with an idea of having a scary story told as the students walked through the stage. Also we had scary music/noises playing to make it scarier for the students. The students enjoyed it so much that they went through there multiple times. At the Halloween party their was a schedule listed on the front table where we sold tickets. Each YD their had a job such as taking pictures, selling snacks, selling raffle tickets, running the haunted house etc. Many people came out to help. We sold pizza, chips, juice, candy bags, and photos. Every thing was .50 except the pizza and pictures which were $ 1.00. Every thing went very well although the haunted house didn’t work out as we planned. Some things that worked were snacks/ pizza, costumes, raffle tickets, and dance contest. Ms. Katie and Mr. Roycroft were a big help towards our Halloween party. In conclusion the party went well, and our profit was $ 333.18. It was a big success because we made more than last year. The students that came to the party enjoyed themselves so much that they might come back next year!!!
Youth Dreamers Community Service Days 2008 James W. Rouse Community Service Day: October 11 Stevenson University Day: October 25 Written collectively by These days/events happened because we want to have a Youth Center to decrease the amount of violence. In our community and around our future youth center there was nothing but open space for crime to take place. There was vandalism, assaults, and drug activity. So we decided to beatify and add things in the community to fill in the space, so this won’t go on. Every year, Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse holds a community service day in honor of James Wilson Rouse, a great man who worked hard for Baltimore. This year, JWR Day happened at the site of our youth center and the Shepherd’s Clinic to help us make our space safer, cleaner, and more beautiful. Before the big day, we held two community designs meetings to get everyone’s input about how to make the shared place safer, cleaner and more beautiful. We held meetings with Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse, The Shepherd’s Clinic, our pro bono general contractor and EDSA Landscape Architects to plan the space and the day. Before we also took a trip to EDSA to actually design the space and learn from them! We wrote letters to get donations from Budekes Paint, scaffolding companies and more. Some of the Youth Dreamers designed mosaic stepping stones and cut glass. Students in the summer art program designed banners with our community artist Ms. Sarah. Close to the day, we decided which Youth Dreamers would help lead the different stations. We also made thank you signs and took pictures to frame for all the people who helped us. Then we designed bumper stickers to give out as thank you’s to our volunteers. We typed community surveys and hung community signs. Finally were ready for the day because we did all of these things. JWR Day was a beautiful day. We begin the day at 7:30-8:00 a.m. Also we had snacks and coffee. Over 200 volunteers came. We installed trees and got all dirty, planting and sliding in the wet soil. We learned to till soil. We also built a picket fence and an arbor. We helped volunteers make mosaic stepping stones. We took pictures and videos of everyone working. We also had tours of our future youth run youth center. A man from the city came and put up our five banners on Kirk Avenue. Some kids helped hand out our surveys to the volunteers. Volunteers came from many different places such as the Youth Dreamers, Stevenson University, Struever Bros. Eccles and Rouse, EDSA Landscape Architects, the Shepherd’s Clinic, Maryland Institute College of Art, board members, and the Enterprise Foundation. Members from the community came to work. Our community artist Ms. Sarah, our architect Ms .Laura , workers from SBER Mr tom and Mr. Dan, our general contractor Mr. Andy , our biggest cheerleader from SBER Ms.Kate and even Mr.Bill Struever ALL CAME AND WORKED HARD. James W. Rouse Day was a successful day. It was full of work and effort. People said the food was the best. Everybody worked the whole time. We got so much done. We would like to THANK Ms. Kate who organized the whole day; Mr. Tom and Mr. Dan who worked on the house for months; Mr. Andy who helped us this far with construction; Mr. Jack who hosted meetings and supported us; Mr. Adam, Ms. Aspasia and Ms. Wisa helped us design the land around the house; Mr. Bryan who is getting us all of the primer and paint at cost; Ms. Laura who helped us design our house; Mr. Billy who helped get concrete donated; Ms. Mary Pat Clarke who attended meetings, spread the word about the event, and supported us; Mr. Brent and Mr. Denny who helped us hang our banners; and Ms. Marilyn who got Stevenson University to plan their service day on our site. Stevenson University Day was on October, 25th and was also a big successful day. We worked mostly on the landscaping around the Shepherd’s Clinic. We installed plants there all around the sides. We put stepping stones in the back of the youth center to make a walkway from the school to the campus. It started raining which made it three times harder and super muddy, but overall it turned out successful. THANK YOU to all the student and faculty volunteers!
HOMEWORK CLUB END OF THE YEAR REPORT 2007-08
Description By Kylie Kinson and Jessica White Homework Club is a program run by the Youth Dreamers Project Class at the Stadium School . In Homework Club, Stadium School students tutor children from Pre-K to 4 th grade from Abbotston Elementary School . We have Homework Club from 2:40 until 4:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays, with a staff meeting after from 4:00 to 4:30 . Each middle school student is paired with the same elementary aged student for the whole year. After the children are done with their homework, they can work in grade level appropriate workbooks, do problems using small chalkboards, and play board games based on picture books created by the employees and the Youth Dreamers. We use a sticker chart to tally up how much homework each child completes and at the end of each month, whoever had the most homework completed gets a small reward. This makes them work hard to complete homework they have on that day and homework they know they have for the rest of the week. The middle school students who want to work at Homework Club have to complete an application, do an interview and then go through three sessions of training. Twenty middle school students are hired. High school students who have worked in the program in the past supervise the classrooms. We use flyers, posters, word of mouth and help from the administration to recruit students from Abbotston Elementary School . Many of the students have been coming for several years. Each student fills out an application and once we have twenty students, we start a waiting list. We celebrate holidays like Christmas, Valentines Day, and Easter with fun activities. We also had educational scavenger hunts during MSA testing, and every month we celebrated birthdays with cupcakes and singing. At the end of the year, we have a big party and when the children leave, we begin preparing for another great year. Special Events and Community Impact By Shakira Cason This year (2008) we had a lot of special events. Some of those special events were a Valentines Day workshop, an Easter egg hunt, and a last day of Homework Club celebration. On Valentines Day, we had stations such as pin the heart on the wall, make your own Valentine cards, and concentration with heart cards. On Easter, we played Easter, Easter, Bunny (Duck, Duck, Goose with a twist) and made Easter bags for the Easter egg hunt outside. On our last day of Homework Club, we played Duck, Duck, Goose, had a water balloon toss, and ran in a relay race. We also celebrated birthdays this year. For the birthday celebrations, we had cupcakes each month that they loved so much. One of our buddies Erykah Means loved the cupcakes so much she put on her evaluation she wanted Chris Brown to come and eat one with her one day! Also we had a tally chart for those who did the most homework each month and their reward was a prize. During the M.S.A testing, we had scavenger hunts so they could relax after testing all day and rejuvenate for the next day of testing. We also did these because they usually didn't have homework on those days. During the scavenger hunts, they had to count the steps in the school , find rocks outside, count the locks and lockers and make a fraction of that, introduce themselves to janitors , pick up a piece of paper and put it in the recycling bin and plenty more. They really enjoyed all of these activities this year. Homework Club has a great impact on the community. The reason I say this is because it keeps kids off the streets and from getting into trouble. Also we help their grades up by doing homework because half of the kids don't do homework And last but not least, we have a great influence on them and they can look up to us and follow in our footsteps. That makes me so happy! Evaluation By Dorien Robinson During Homework Club, the Abbottston students have to sign in daily. This year, the average attendance for an Abbottston student was 68%. We feel that this number is lower than we would like because of several factors such as: Stadium School students did not make sure their buddies signed in every day, there were two students who had very low attendance which brought the percentage down, and two students did not finish out the year. We did have some students with excellent attendance. At the end of each day, both Stadium School students and Abbotston buddies had to evaluate each other. We averaged out all of these evaluations and found that the average score for "This is how much my Stadium School buddy helped me," was 4.8 out of 5. The average score for "This is how well my Abbotston buddy worked," was 4.7 out of 5. These were good averages, but we feel that we can always do better. We gave out an end of the year program evaluation form to all Abbotston students to fill out with their Stadium School buddies. When asked if Homework Club helped them, 100% of the Abbotstons students marked "yes." When asked if they enjoyed Homework Club, 100% of the students marked, "yes." When asked if they would come back next year, 88% marked yes, 6% marked "no," and 6% marked "not sure." When asked if their grades improved because of Homework Club, 75% marked "yes," and 25% marked "not sure." What they liked most was the work, the buddies, homework, cupcakes, snacks, games, outside, and the people. Their suggestions for next year were more coloring, more going outside, more games, more parties, and more math. They also wanted to Chris Brown to come and eat cupcakes with them! Reflections By Daisha Washington & Jessica White To reflect on this year's Homework Club, we explained our opinions about the program as a whole staff. Abbottston and Stadium students seemed to love the program. This year, we did many things differently. We decided on these changes at the end of last year's Homework Club. Some changes were: we had orientation for parents and children of Abbottston where everyone was able to learn about the program and meet the tutors. We had two floaters to keep track of attendance and behavior. We had end of the a month birthday and HW achievement celebrations, yoga to keep them focused after being picked up from school, and more enrichment games. This year, there were many things that worked!!! The students seemed to enjoy the enrichment games, sticker charts, end of the month celebrations, snacks, and workbooks. They also enjoyed the Scavenger Hunts during MSA. We also had many things that didn't work this year. Having friends sit near each other was a major problem because, they didn't stay focused. In a way the yoga didn't work. Some tutors ate during work, which was another major problem. Parents not picking their children up on time and trash being left after Abbottston students were gone made it hard for staff meetings to start on time. The 3 strikes your out rule slacked up a little bit. From all of that, we created a list of new changes. To keep attendance we have decided to create a sign in sheet to hang outside of the door. Employees are to sign in and out as they arrive and leave rather than the policy of doing that at staff meetings since tutors often forgot. Floaters are now required to take attendance of Abbottston students and be more consistent with charts for the HW completion and behavior. A trash can will be rolled around after snacks are passed out to cut down on the trash. We have decided to hand out a fact sheet during orientation so parents will be sure of everything going on during the year. To make sure new friendships are made we will switch buddies seasonally. We had a productive year, and everyone is looking forward to next year.
The Youth Dreamers' Second Annual Fashion Show: Diva Dolls Report by Jada Harris and Ms. Kristina For this year's fashion show, we had four Youth Dreamer planners: Jada Harris, Tamara Lemon, Ciara Hall and Courtney Hughes. All of us were in last year's show. We also had help from Chekana Reid, our board President and a freshman at Coppin; Kiaira Weems, a junior at City College High School; and Eden, Anwar and Andre, students from Villa Julie College. We decided to have a fashion show because we had one last year and we needed an engaging after school program for students at the Stadium School . We had to write a grant to get funding for it, and we got half of the funding that we asked for from Youth As Resources. We had to recruit the models---thirteen girls in grades six through eight; plan the rehearsals; buy a stereo system, snacks for each rehearsal, clothes, etc.; create a program; decide on decorations; and more! We decided to rent lights this year, too. We held our modeling classes every Friday from 3:00 to 4:30 and then the committee met to discuss how the models were improving and what we needed to focus on each week in our staff meetings from 4:30 to 5:00 .
We had the Diva Dolls Fashion Show on Friday, May 16 th , 2008 at 6:00 in the school gym. Many people were there including the models' families who were there to support them. We charged $8.00 for adults, $5.00 for youth and children under three were free. Students from the Stadium School and the Youth Dreamers came and helped-from setting up, to selling tickets, to running the snack stand, to playing the music, to problem solving, to helping the models dress, to doing make up, to cleaning up. For the fashion show, the theme was Diva Dolls and we had seven scenes: Intro, Walk in the Park, Picture Perfect, Retro, Damaged Dolls, Diva Doll and White Diamonds/Finale. Our funders Youth As Resources walked the runway, Destiny sang, Ms. Karima's dance class performed two dances, and we let the audience walk the runway, too. People really loved that! Eden and Andre mc'd, and Anwar cheered the models on. We sold snacks throughout.
The Youth Dreamer's Fashion Show was a big success. We raised $997.89!! The models all completed evaluations and out of a score of 10, they rated the modeling class/fashion show a 9.8 on average. They also tallied the skills they learned from the program including posing, walking, working together, being committed, improved self esteem, etc. For next year, we hope to get more funding so we can possibly get a runway and more clothes for the models. We will definitely have a fashion show and we hope you can attend!
The Youth Dreamers 3 rd Annual Starry Night Gala: It's Hairspray Hon! Review BY: Miriam Harris, Dominique Davis and Liz Lowengard Our third annual gala extravaganza took place at the Isaac Myers Fredrick Douglas Museum in downtown Fells Point. The Youth Dreamers arrived there early for set up with reminiscent thoughts, in the hopes that this one would be as good as our celebrations past. They eagerly started working to make it look as retro 60's as possible. Students blew up balloons, put up banners and got in the mood with 60's music to listen to while they worked As soon as the space was set up, the students practiced their dance routines and finished off with snacks just in time to change into their snappy outfits. The food and guests arrived and the gala was beginning. The first performance "Welcome to the 60's, was enthusiastically received by the guests. As the night progressed, students performed other musical numbers from Hairspray and Dreamgirls, chatted with the guests and watched the sunset by the Chesapeake Bay from the lovely museum view. The auction items were chosen to represent the neighborhoods around the city including Fells Point, Hamden , Charles Village and many more neighborhoods. Of special interest was a Hairspray poster signed by the original Broadway cast. There were lots of gift certificates. From restaurants, shops and artwork After the auction closed, students helped organize the final steps of the event, making sure everyone got what they bid the highest on, It was lots of fun, a good time for students and adults. Ms. K said, "I was so impressed with the youth performances and the beautiful space!" Anita exclaimed, "It was fun!" Kevin chimed in, "It was fun for my first time and I would do it next year as well." A SPECIAL THANKS to Caprece Jackson of the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, Agape Catering, Spectrum Printing, our corporate sponsor CitiFinancial, ALL THE stores, restaurants, museums and artists who donated to the silent auction AND everyone who attended!
D FunFest 2008 Written by Kevin Lewis, Jada Harris, Chekana Reid
The Global Youth Service Day is a day where youth lead the community to come together to be productive and active in their own community. On April 27, 2008, the Youth Dreamers held their annual Fun Fest/ Block Party from 11:00am until 3:00pm. Our goals for the Fun Fest included having neighbors from the community come out to our youth center, having everyone engage in positive activities, completing our mosaic sign for the Shepherd Clinic's new wellness center, bonding with the community, changing the perception of youth for the better, and having fun! We did a lot of planning before our Fun Fest! During project class, we looked at our reflections from last year and decided what we wanted to keep and what we wanted to change. We then gathered all of our ideas and wrote them on chart paper. Afterwards, we circled all of the ideas we liked to have at our Fun Fest and assigned different tasks to different people. Since we already knew we wanted to work on the mosaic at the Fun Fest, we invited community artist Ms. Cinder to come to class to help us design the sign and to teach us how cut up pieces of tile and glass so we would be ready to complete the mosaic at the Fun Fest. We also shopped online to find face paints. The day of the Fun Fest was full of fun and excitement! The set up went smoothly and quickly. We had to set up the tables and chairs as stations. Some of the stations we had were face painting, designing your own playground, and mosaic making. The activities that took place during the day were slippery melon, water balloon toss, three legged race, egg toss, egg race, watermelon eating contest, a scavenger hunt throughout the house, and painting a picnic table and chairs for the clinic. The clean up was fast and easy. There was a little trash on the ground, but everyone participated to pick it up and put away all of the tables and chairs. The Fun Fest had a great turn out. About twelve Youth Dreamers and five Homework Club employees came and participated in different roles. Some people face painted, set up and led the several stations, led the games on the lawn, and set up and cleaned up. About six adult board members came and monitored the whole event and helped out with the set up and clean up. Ms. Cinder and Ms. Sarah were there to lead the mosaic sign making. Around a whopping 40 volunteers and community members came to our Fun Fest! During project class the week after the Fun Fest, we reflected on the day and talked about what worked, what didn't, and what we might change for the next year. Some things that worked were the games, the mosaic sign, and the activities in the different stations. Some things that didn't work were the playground designs, we forgot the survey and dance contest, and we ran out of juices. Next year we might do more field sports, have more juices, have real trashcans, and buy more face paints. After reflecting on the Fun Fest, we realized that we met all of our internal goals: to build community, raise awareness, and show youth in positive leadership roles. We also met the goals of the YSA: to mobilize youth to identify and address the needs of their community through service, support youth on a lifelong path of service, and education the public about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders. We also stayed in budget with the template for the mosaic made for free and also received the glass for the mosaic for free. We also used some things that were recycled from last year. We spent $734.50 and have $215.50 left over for the Youth Dreamers' celebration. After reflections, we can honestly say our Fun Fest was very successful and productive! We can not wait to have a bigger and better Fun Fest in 2009!My Sister's Place April Visit By Anita Hargrove, Daquan Langston, Keyani Kenny and Indirah Auguste
My Sister's Place is a place for women in transition in downtown Baltimore . We go every month to help them get faith in themselves and bring joy to their day. Thanks to Youth As Resources, we have the funding we need to make these trips. Planning: To plan a day at My Sister's Place, we fill out a planning sheet for that month in a small group. We have to include an Icebreaker, YD Blurb, art activity or entertainment, lunch and a goodbye. At My Sister's Place: We went to My Sister's Place on April 16, 2008 from 10:00 to 11:15 a.m. On our agenda we started off with an ice breaker, which was Brainteasers by Danielle. Then Anita shared with the ladies who the Youth Dreamers are. After that, Indirah told the ladies what they were going to do today. For the activity, they painted mini planting pots, and larger ones that will be hanging in there center window. As they were finishing up the activity, we started to make their plates, and started to hand out food. Birches Restaurant made lasagna, Caesar salad, and brownies. During that time we began to tighten up the area. While they were eating and finishing up, Anita and Danielle ended the day with a song to the ladies, which was a good-bye song from the kids show "Out of the Box." Everyone had a great time! We seem to have a great time every time we go there. Our last visit for the year will be May 21 st .
Our Trip to My Sisters Place On January 9, 2008 the Youth Dreamers went on a trip to My Sisters Place.
Our Trip to New York City!! 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 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. 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.
Halloween Fun Fundraiser: Boo!
Planning At the Party 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 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. 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
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, For the reading part of the program For the Art part of the program Students also had to put how much they learned. For reading For art class 3 said they learned the most 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
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:
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!
|
Homework Club is a program run by the Youth Dreamers Project Class at the Stadium School in Baltimore, MD. In the HW Club Stadium School, students tutor children from kindergarden-5th grade from Abbottston Elementary School. HW Club hours are from 3:00-4PM on Mondays and Wednesdays with staff meetings from 4 to whatever time we stop. It is usually around 4:30 or 4:45. HW Club starts in November and ends in May. Each Youth Dreamer buddy is paired with an AE buddy of their choice. Youth Dreamer buddies help AE buddies with their homework, including Math, Reading, etc. After buddies have completed their homework, they have the option of working in grade level appropriate work books, completing problems on small chalkboards, playing board games based on picture books, flash cards, and more fun activities. Aside from tutoring, we have floaters and supervisors. Floaters usually float around the room checking on buddies and their tutees. Floaters are in charge of taking attendance for AE buddies, sticker charts, handing out time cards and basically being in charge. The job of supervisors consists of helping AE and Youth Dreamer buddies with problems that they have. At the end of the month we reward AE buddies with cupcakes to celebrate their birthdays. We also hand out prizes for those who have the most stickers on the sticker chart for completing their homework and being good buddies. This reward makes them work harder to complete homework.
Youth Dreamers Halloween Party 
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. 
