New club program means you can be a star

“Graduate to Go” Studio Coming to the Club

This past week representatives from the Taco Bell Foundation joined with their partner, the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation, to announce the creation of a new “Graduate to Go” Studio at the Boys and Girls Club. The 3-year, $150,00 grant will help build the space needed for a new film and video program to be housed in the McLaughlin Clubhouse. Graduate to Go is a mentor-based initiative with a year-round curriculum of projects in video production. The studio program will be supported by an on-line studio community and other tools to help bring this unique experience to as many teens as possible. The Studio will also include a Mentor component with volunteers helping teens through their projects in the studio and ensuring that they are also following the right path to graduation. In addition, the studio program will be supplemented with field trips to relevant businesses, colleges and/or exposure to business professionals in the media arts. As part of the announcement last week, Mark Wahlberg, who is a member of the Club’s Board of Directors, visited the Club along with a team from The Early Show and the Anderson Cooper Show. Six Club members: Melanie Barros, Aisling Kerr, Marissa Sneed, Manny Brandao, David Barry and Rayshaw Matthews were part of the taping and in a surprise announcement all six received a $10,000 college scholarship thanks to the Taco Bell Foundation and the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation. We congratulate the members on their awards. Construction of the new Studio will begin shortly and we hope to have this program space available to members in the very near future. Our thanks goes out to the Taco Bell Foundation and the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation for making this program opportunity a reality.

November Program Highlights

The month of November looks to be a busy one as we have special events scattered all over our core programs areas. In the Aquatic program, the members of the Marr-lin Swim Team will have meets against Waltham (11/5), Charlestown (11/12) and a tri-meet against Arlington & Chelsea (11/19). Our older swimmers will also attend the Nashua Senior Meet (11/13). Meanwhile, the Swim Lesson program will wrap-up session #1 and begin a new session of classes the week of 11/28. In our Education program, in addition to weekly Tutoring and our drop-in Homework Help program (Monday – Thursday), we will host a Financial Literacy Workshop (11/2), a Job Shadow experience at State Street Corporation (11/10), an S.A.T & College Essay Writing Workshop at Pricewaterhouse Coopers (11/14) and a trip to the Children’s Museum (11/18). In our Athletic program, our four Intramural Floor Hockey leagues will continue regular season play and play-offs through the month. The Intramural Flag Football program will host Super Bowl games for the Junior Division (11/19) and for the Teen Division (11/28). Our two All-Star Floor Hockey teams will continue to play home and away games against Clubs from the region, the High School Basketball Clinic will wrap-up on 11/26, and the Gymnastics Class will host a session-ending recital for family and friends (11/21). In the Social Recreation program the Outdoor Adventure Club will hike the Blue Hills (11/4), we will host registration for those members invited to the Shawnee Peak Ski Trip (11/12), and offer a trip to the Frog Pond for Ice Skating (11/30). In addition, look for the Patriot’s Kids Café Annual Thanksgiving Family Dinner to be held on 11/16. In the Arts program the 1st session of classes will wrap-up in early November with a second session of classes to begin the week of 11/14. In the Teen program members of the Keystone Club will host a Canned Goods Drive throughout the month and an inter-Club Scavenger Hunt (11/26). The Career Prep program will be processing 20 teen staff (11/3) enrolled in the Boston Youth Fund’s After-School employment program who will begin working on 11/28. The Teen program will also host a Thanksgiving Dinner on 11/21. In the Music Clubhouse look for a Guitar/Bass Workshop (11/15), our monthly Open Mic Night (11/18) and the Fall Music & Youth Initiative Workshop (11/19) while the Lesson program will continue to meet through the month. At our Denney Center Unit in Harbor Point we will hold our Parents Forum (11/14), the teen Munch & Mingle (11/17), Turkey Palooza with U-Mass Boston (11/18), and host a teen trip to Gillette Stadium to see the Patriots play Kansas City (11/21). For more information on these upcoming November events please contact VP of Programming, Mike Joyce at 617-288-7120, ext. 2110.