'Tis the season - for Christmas parties

Christmas Events & School Vacation Week

There will be several upcoming program opportunities for members to celebrate the holidays and to utilize the Club during the school vacation. For our teen members we will be hosting a Party on Thursday, December 22nd. Teens from all three Clubhouse locations are invited to attend. On December 23rd we will host parties for our Bantam & Cadet (ages 5-9) and Junior (ages 10-12) members.

Please note that the Club will not be open for general membership on this day and that members must be picked up immediately after their respective party. The Club will then be closed from December 24th to 26th. The Boys and Girls Club will re-open for the Christmas School Vacation Week on Tuesday, December 27th through Friday, December 30th with hours from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for ages 8 to 12. For our Teen members we will be extending our hours from 5-9 p.m. from December 27th to December 30th. The Club will be closed from December 31st to January 2nd for the New Year’s Day holiday. The Club will re-open for school year hours on Tuesday, January 3rd at 3:00 p.m. There will be a variety of activities and special events for members to participate in during the vacation week including: drop-in gym games, open swims and art classes as well as field trips to such sites as the Aquarium, Ice Skating at the Frog Pond, and a Gallery Art Tour. For our teen members there will be trips, an on-site 3 on 3 Basketball tournament, the Keystone Club Scavenger Hunt and more. To accommodate the new schedule, the Kids Café program will offer breakfast at 9:00 a.m. and lunch at 1:00 p.m. to pre-registered members. Please note that hours for our Bantam members (ages 5 to 7) will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Parents, please remember that all Bantams will need to be picked up promptly at 1 p.m. or immediately after participating in the Kids Café program. For additional information on our School Vacation Week events please contact Director of Program Development, Laurene Plourde at ext. 2120.

Music Clubhouse Program

The Music Clubhouse program has wrapped up the Fall session of classes this month and will take a semester break before returning in January. Re-registration for current students who have met the attendance criteria is taking place between 12/12 and 12/22 while new students interested in taking part may register between 12/27 to 1/9. Classes for the Winter session will begin the week of 1/23. Our classes are offered in piano, voice, bass, drums and guitar and are taught by Berklee College student work-study interns. Other upcoming events include our monthly Open Mic Night (12/19), which will also include performances by participants from the Fall session of classes, and a trip to see “The Nutcracker” (12/22). In addition to our Lesson program for members ages 10 and up there are Open Music times built in to the schedule. Open Music is a great time for members to experiment on the instruments or for students in the lesson program to practice what they have learned. We would also like to congratulate those members of the lesson program who performed at the Winter Wonderfest, held last Friday at our Denney Center Unit, located in Harbor Point. For more information on the Music Clubhouse program please contact Ayeisha Mathis at ext. 1410.
Education Program

The Education program at the Club offers a variety of programs to support academic achievement of our members. The most popular of these programs is Homework Help, which takes place Monday to Thursday from 2-7:45 p.m. in the Marr Clubhouse Education Center. This is a drop-in program for members age 5 to 12. We also offer Homework Help in the Teen Center for members ages 13 to 18. In addition, we offer limited One-to-One Tutoring to pre-registered members in need of specific assistance. Throughout the week we host small group activities such as Kids College (on-line math skills program), Mad Science (focus on trash & recycling), KidzLit (drop-in read-a-louds) and TGIF! (special Friday history-themed activities). For our Teen members we offer the College Bound program, a series of activities to help promote entry to post-High School opportunities. Upcoming activities include the Wilson Daily Prep S.A.T. program, a Financial Aid Night in January and one-to-one assistance with the college selection, application and essay process. For additional information please contact Emily Capurso, Education Director at 617-288-7120, ext. 2320.