Topic Archives: YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

We believe the values and skills learned early on are vital building blocks for life. Because of the Y, more young people in neighborhoods around the nation are taking a greater interest in learning and making smarter life choices. At the Y, children and teens learn values and positive behaviors, and can explore their unique talents and interests, helping them realize their potential. That makes for confident kids today and contributing and engaged adults tomorrow.

Stories about the Y Community Impact in Youth Development are below.

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Amy Kuras

Team Makes a Splash For Strong Kids

It’s amazing what kids can accomplish when given an incentive. And when that incentive means they can help their fellow young people, do something they enjoy, and have a little fun with one of the adults in their lives? So much the better.

That’s what the novice swim team at the Birmingham Y did recently. Their coach, JD Prince, challenged them to raise $75 each for the Strong Kids Campaign. Anyone who did, he told them, could hit him and his fellow coaches in the face with a pie. If they raised $1,000 as a team, they could have a pizza party.

Swimmers are not a group to shy away from a challenge, and this group of kids not only met the goal, they pretty much demolished it. All told, they raised $2,500 for the Strong Kids Campaign. And one swimmer, Kyra Beauregard, raised $800 all on her own.

The team raised the money by swimming laps; people could either pledge per lap or just give money to their swimmer. All of the team members are new to being on the swim team; many came from Y swimming lessons and joined the team to try out competitive swimming.

Aquatics director Robin Coapman says they’re still trying to figure out what reward to give the team for doing so well with their fundraising, but she’s proud of their hard work in helping other kids whose families might struggle to afford a membership to have all the benefits of joining the Y. Who knows, maybe next year one of those kids might be throwing a pie.

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Amy Kuras

Girls On The Run Closes In On Goal

Miss Michigan visited Girls On The Run during the fall season.

Asked how the spring season of Girls On The Run has gone, council director Jackie Kippen says “it’s been incredible.” She was expecting about 1000 girls to participate, between sites at YMCA branches and at local schools; instead, more than 1200 signed up. Between the girls, their coaches, and parents and friends who want to run with them, they’re expecting around 2,000 at the 5K that marks the finish line of the season. The 5K is May 19 at Oakland University, and represents the achievement of one of the Girls On the Run goals that the girls in the program have been working toward since the beginning of the season.

The other, of course, is to develop their self-respect and capacity for healthy living. The core of Girls on the Run isn’t so much the running, Jackie notes, as the activities the girls do that help foster self-esteem, show them how to resist peer pressure, and teach ways of resolving conflicts and relating to each other positively.

Jackie’s seeing the magic of Girls On the Run close up this year — she’s volunteered as a coach at REACH Academy in Warren. “I am more committed to the program than ever” she says, adding with a laugh “I drank the Kool-Aid!”

Over the nearly ten weeks her team has been together, she’s been noticing the lessons of Girls On The Run really taking shape. “I’ve seen the girls use conflict management skills at practice,” she says. “If they are mad at someone or someone cut them off while they were running I’ve seen them talk it out — that has been amazing.” They’re also cheering each other on and encouraging each other to participate in the conversations as well, and have built a lot of trust in each other. “They have started to really open up,” Jackie says. “The more discussions we have, the more they talk about things they wouldn’t normally talk about with other people.”

Coaching helps her understand the challenges her fellow coaches are facing as well and makes her more effective at working with them, she says. Often when a coach calls her with a problem, she’s faced it herself as well and can talk it through with them. “I’m not just telling them what to do, I’m living it with them,” she says.

Overall, it’s been a great experience working with the girls this year, she says, and has reinforced what an amazing program Girls On the Run is. “Its been an awesome experience seeing he confidence the girls develop,” she says.

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Amy Kuras

New Neighbor Helps Girls On The Run

Sometimes an interaction can have wide-ranging impact, not only on the people involved but on the community around them. That was the case with Jeff Lambert, president and managing partner of Lambert, Edwards and Associates. The public relations firm recently moved their offices from Troy to the block of Broadway in Downtown Detroit that also is the location of the Boll Family YMCA. That move was catalyzed in part, Lambert says, by a visit to the Boll.

Lambert, a longtime board member of the Y in West Michigan, wanted to make a donation to provide swim lessons to needy children. He connected with the team running Detroit Swims, which has the goal of providing swim lessons to every child in Detroit, and gave a $10,000 donation. The Boll staff held an event to thank him, and Lambert was taken with the activity and energy in the neighborhood surrounding the Boll.

“That was my first introduction to that area,” Lambert says. “Fast forward a year and half or so, and now we’re neighbors.”

Lambert, Edwards and Associates moved into an abandoned office suite that is now a vibrant, open plan office that’s drawn notice for its sports theme.

The firm wanted to mark their new space in a special way, so they crafted a creative donation to Girls On the Run. At Christmastime, they gave each of their clients a gift certificate for a pair of shoes from Wolverine Worldwide, which makes Saucony running shoes as well as iconic brands such as Hush Puppies, Merrell and Stride Rite. When clients redeemed the certificate, Lambert, Edwards and Associates donated a pair of shoes to Girls on the Run. “We celebrated our new offices by paying it forward,”Lambert says.

All told, Lambert, Edwards and Associates donated 100 pairs of shoes. Many of the young women who participate in Girls On the Run can’t afford quality running shoes, so the donation will allow a lot more girls access to the program. It teaches girls about resisting peer pressure, raising self-esteem and making healthy choices wile also training for a 5K race.

As a longtime Y member and board member, Lambert believes in the Y’s commitment to all forms of healthy living and to a diverse community.

“The Y is a great example of a public/private partnership,” Lambert says. “It’s evolved from the traditional gym and swim to being a community advocate for everyone from the youngest to the oldest members of the community. It touches all aspects of a person’s wellness, and that’s something we really believe in.”

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Amy Kuras

Healthy Kids Day Encourages Activity

The Metro Detroit YMCA is joining more than 1,900 Ys across the country on Saturday to celebrate Healthy Kids Day. The event, which is free and open to the public as well as Y members, is designed to combat childhood obesity and summertime learning loss by encouraging healthy habits in children and their families.

The event is not just fun for kids, although it is something “Y kids” look forward to every year; it’s also enjoyable for parents. Children and their families can enjoy free exercise classes, food, giveaways and other fun events at their local Y.

Through Healthy Kids Day, the Y addresses critical gaps in health and education that cause kids to be at-risk for childhood obesity and suffer summer learning loss. Research shows that without access to activities that stimulate the mind and body, kids are more prone to gain weight and fall behind academically over the summer months. The Y can help with that, with everything from day camps to classes to friendships made at Childwatch.

Times and activities will vary by branch; visit www.ymcadetroit.org to find contact information for local branches and contact them for specific times and activities. Most branches are also on Facebook. Come join the fun and learn how to keep your family healthy and strong in body, mind and spirit.

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Amy Kuras

Run To Honor Y Worker’s Memory

The community of people that gather at a YMCA is often referred to as “YMCA family,” because being part of the Y is so much more than just belonging to a place to work out, go to camp, or learn to swim. And sometimes, the Y truly is family.

When Breeana Dixit was killed in a car accident near Western Michigan University’s campus in February, it hit the Lakeshore Family YMCA very hard. She’d worked in the Y’s childcare facility in high school and early in her college career, and her mother, sister, aunt and cousin all work at the Y as well. She had an impact on just about everyone there, members and staff, and her loss was a huge blow to all who knew her or her family.

Bree (as she was known) was a recent WMU graduate, loved working with children, and also loved running. “It was an important part of her life, as well as working with kids,” says Rose Cesario, the school-age childcare director for the Lakeshore Y. To honor her memory, the staff at the Lakeshore Y, along with a group of Bree’s friends, have organized a 5K run in her honor which will be held on April 27, the Y’s Healthy Kids Day. The annual event will be dedicated to Bree this year. Proceeds from the run will benefit the Y’s Strong Kids Campaign and the Ted Lindsay Foundation for Autism.

A tree will be planted in memory of Bree at the event before the run. The tree planting is at 10:45 on April 27, and the race starts at 11:00. In order to allow more people to participate, the race will not be timed and is for everyone from beginning walkers to experienced runners. Field day activities will run from the start of the race until 1 p.m. as part of the Y’s Healthy Kids Day. There will be sack races, water relays, cone relays, and an exercise relay, among other fun events.

The “Bree’z Through the Shores” run is planned to become an annual event. Registration is $20 for children and $30 for adults and is ongoing at Active.com.

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Amy Kuras

School Spotlighted in Art Exhibit

Visitors to the Boll Family YMCA throughout the month of March may have noticed some fairly unusual things about the most recent art exhibit in the lobby. They’re organized not by theme or visual similarity, but by school subject. And the works are very diverse — not only paint and pencil, but handwork such as hand-sewn dolls and knitted items.

These pieces are the work of students at the Detroit Waldorf School. Waldorf is a form of education that infuses arts into the curriculum in many ways. Math concepts, for example, are explained by singing, storytelling, and rhythmic activities which letchildren use their whole bodies to learn. Visual art helps with memorization and helps students to appreciate the beauty of numbers.

“We really connect it to our curriculum,” says Charis Calender-Suemnick, outreach director for the school.

Waldorf is a small school, with only 132 students this school year across grade 1-8. One of the goals of having the exhibit at the Y was to increase enrollment, Charis says, and also to showcase the abilities of their students. They came to the Y because several parents were members, and it has been a good experience all around, she says. They had an opening exhibit in early March which drew a lot of interest and was very exciting for the students, to see their work on display in a gallery setting. It shows how accomplished students are upon graduation, Charis says. “Kids that graduate from here are so versatile in their talents and their interests.”

The Detroit Waldorf school was founded in 1966 and is located in the Indian Village neighborhood of Detroit. It is part of an international community of Waldorf schools, with more than 1,000 schools in 60 countries.

Want to learn more? Check out this video made by one of the Waldorf parents about the Y exhibit:

Waldorf Video.

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Amy Kuras

New School Carries Out Y Mission

The YMCA’s mission is youth development, social responsibility and healthy living. That takes many forms, from the familiar such as youth swim lessons and senior exercise, to programs many people are not even aware the Y offers but that serve a need in their community. Here in Detroit, that means the Y’s mission includes opening charter schools to provide an alternative for families who are not served by the city’s traditional public schools. Two schools, Detroit Leadership Academy and Detroit Innovation Academy, serve kindergarten through 8th grade, and beginning this fall, Detroit Leadership Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a high school, will open its doors to its first class.

Enrollment is underway for the high school currently. It will welcome its first class of 125 ninth graders this fall and add a grade every year until this first class reaches 12th grade. The curriculum is based around the Covey Seven Habits for Highly Effective Teens. Class sizes will be small, between 20 and 25 students per class. Each student will have adult role models and and mentors. The school has established a relationship with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and adults within the school will form relationships with the students as well. Research has shown that if a teen has a relationship with at least one caring adult at school — and it could be anyone from the principal to the lunchroom aide — they are much more likely to succeed.

In addition to fostering academic success, the school’s core beliefs include developing a sense of what it means to be part of a community, and personal power, which means to develop a clear sense of self and one’s purpose and passion.

Entrepreneurship is a big part of the curriculum, as the school’s name indicates. Students will learn to write business plans as well as learn skills necessary to excel in the work world, either on their own or as employees. “The idea is to get them thinking as businesspersons,” says Anita Tucker, business office manager for the school. They plan to offer international travel opportunities and innovative technology as well. Y programing will be a big part of their offerings; the Y I-CAN Achieve curriculum that blends work, service, positive decision making and physical activity will be available to all students.

The school is located near U-M Dearborn and Henry Ford Community College. Dual enrollment will be available at both schools, which could allow students to graduate with a year or two of college credit as well as a high school diploma.

The school is a charter school, which means they do not charge tuition. Enrollment will continue until the class is full.

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Amy Kuras

Barracudas Excel In, Out Of The Pool

The Boll YMCA Barracudas Swim Team is tearing it up in the pool: they are swimming at national meets, including last week’s Black History swim meet in Washington, DC; they’re putting in the time at practice and seeing results like faster times, and they are doing all this while still performing well in school.

Swimmer Harisen Davis, for example, came to the Y for swim lessons and, after joining the team, quickly progressed to be one of the fastest swimmers for her age group, Charisse Woods, the youngest swimmer on the team at age 7, has one of the largest spirits, according to her coach. Charisse placed 6th fastest in all four strokes for her age group, out of 62 swimmers, while in D.C. Both girls are on scholarship at the Y through the Strong Kids Campaign. Neither would be able to participate in this program that has allowed them to excel and grow without the generosity of those who give to the Strong Kids Campaign.

It’s not just the kids on the team who are benefitting from the Barracudas. Another amazing result is the teamwork among the parents of the kids on the team. Many of them face financial challenges — six out of the 17 students are on scholarship, and 12 came to the team through swim lessons taken on scholarship. But they have come together to make the program what they want for their children. Through tireless fundraising, they have financed all kinds of remarkable experiences for the team members. “They want uniforms and national meets and rewards and team equipment and team morale and team camaraderie; so, they decided to fundraise and dedicate themselves to serve on self-appointed committees,” says Boll Aquatics Director Mike Hamlett. “They are using their efforts and networking connections to help build their program into the thriving system that it is beginning to be.”

It all speaks to the higher purpose of the YMCA; beyond teaching some children to swim and giving them a chance to excel through hard work and support, the Barracudas (like so many other Y programs) have built a stronger community. As Mike wrote of the team, “By our actions at the Boll Family YMCA, we have initiated change. Change within ourselves and change within other people. When we do for those who can’t do for themselves, we are serving a much higher purpose than just punching in on a clock and earning a paycheck. We are planting seeds; seeds of respect, honesty, caring, and responsibility into our youth development. As we water and fertilize those seeds, they will develop and grow into socially responsible people; and possibly be able to give back to their communities through the healthy living that they received from us here at the Boll Family YMCA.”