This program allowed the opportunity to being able to discuss health and fitness with the children. Before the field trip the children were taught how exercise makes the heart strong and healthy. After the field trip they were taught which foods were good to eat for healthy living.

The Move-it Kid Pledge

Students were able to do a pledge, Move-it Kid. The students were encouraged to get 60-Move-it minutes of activity per day. They were taught several fun ways to move-it. Also a timer would be set for one minute and the kids were encouraged to do jumping jacks, run in place, or dance for 1 minute. After the 1 minute they would sit down and discuss being a move-it kid, including how long recess was and how to be active in poor weather. Another pledge was to be a High-Five Kid. A High-Five Kid would try to have five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. To make sure the kids knew what they would be eating, they were taught how much a serving is, the names of fruits and vegetables, and discussed how it is important to have a colorful plate while eating. It was stressed how having a colorful plate did not mean coloring your food with crayons, or eating foods that are colorful because of food coloring. Filling your plate with colorful fruits was the message. The students were to take the pledges home to the parents and discuss if they wanted to sign up for them. If the answer was yes, they would bring back the signed pledges and put them in the Health Pledge Binder.

Using art to learn about healthy living

Integrating creativity with learning is one efficient way to get kids to enjoy learning. The students were given journals called Health Books. The students would draw foods in each food group, color a plate different color depending on the food group, and draw a picture and write about exercising. The Kindergarten group worked at a center that had two baskets: Health Foods and Sometimes Foods. They had pictures of foods to color, cut out, and past on either of the baskets. The goal was to figure out which foods were healthy foods and which were sometimes foods. The students enjoyed the combination of having fun and learning. So much so, when it was over they were begging to continue.

To find out more about how you can make an impact through volunteering with Youth Life visit our volunteer page to find out ways you can help and fill-out our online application to get started. VOLUNTEER

If you don’t have time to volunteer consider a donation by becoming a recurring giver through our $10 for Them Initiative. It’s a real simple way to provide the resources our children need to make sure their futures stay bright. INVEST

About the writer: Ruth Shipp

Ruth is a senior at Belmont University. She is majoring in marketing and has a music minor. She plans to work with nonprofits after she graduates.

Recently YLLC-Easley Center students experienced the opportunities extended to local volunteers by Room in the Inn. Originally started in December of 1986, Room in the Inn began with four congregations who committed to shelter homeless people. Miraculously, by the end of that winter, thirty-one congregations had joined. Twenty-six years later, Room in the Inn has over 180 congregations in Middle Tennessee and over 6,000 volunteers, including Youth Life Learning Center’s very own Sherry Ricketts and her husband.

Room in the Inn provides emergency services, transitional programs, and long-term solutions to help people rebuild their lives every single day of the year. They work to “walk with people on their journey out of chaos, through periods of great change, and continue to support them as they rejoin the workforce, seek education, and work with partner agencies…which is possible through one-on-one relationships and a commitment to serving all those who call the streets of Nashville home.” Much like the core values Youth Life Learning Centers was founded upon, Room in the Inn also emphasizes “the power of spirituality and the practice of love…and provides hospitality with a respect that offers hope in a community of non-violence.”

How does Room in the Inn work?

Room in the Inn is a way for more people in every sector of the community to understand the problems of the homeless by having direct relationships and firsthand encounters with the homeless. Room in the Inn provides extra beds and meals to the homeless who are unable to be served at the Rescue Mission. Congregations of every faith open their facilities to welcome twelve to fifteen homeless people as guests on cold winter nights, including the church that our students volunteered with: Tulip Grove Baptist Church. Homeless guests are picked up at the Rescue Mission and driven to various locations throughout the Nashville area, and once they are at their location for the night, they are fed dinner, breakfast, and given a sack lunch. At the facilities, they are also able to shower and change clothes.

What did our students do?

Because Youth Life Learning Centers encourages students to become more actively involved in service and continuously works to provide opportunities to do such, we were ecstatic to hear that, without any prompting, the students of the Easley Center voiced their concern for the homeless during devotion and prayer times. After hearing such initiative within her students, Sherry Ricketts came up with the idea to take the students along with her on her night to work with Room in the Inn.

Room in the Inn creates an environment with the opportunity for the guests to learn that there are people who care, and forces the hosts to realize that the faceless figure on the street corner is more than just a statistic, as the students quickly learned. The students were taught to serve without prejudice or pride and learned that there are people in the community who accept everyone regardless of socioeconomic status.

Rather than having the students simply watch people perform their duties, as stand-in Room in the Inn volunteers, they assisted in setting up alongside the other regular volunteers. This included making the beds, setting up tables and chairs for the meals, and setting out towels and other items for showers.

How did the students react?

The response to the service activity was more than inspiring. The students absolutely loved it, and it allowed them the chance to see how they, even as young as they are, could help the community in such a grand way. The overwhelming positivity that resonated from the students after the event was reflected in what they were overheard saying; “I thought it was great; I like helping people,” one student was reported to have said.

Overall, the trip to Room in the Inn allowed the students to learn real-life values firsthand. It taught them to be grateful for the opportunities available to them and demonstrated the need for more tolerance within the community. They now acknowledge the idea that even service can be fun and rewarding. The importance of the difference one life can make is astonishing.

To find out more about how you can make an impact through volunteering with Youth Life visit our volunteer page to find out ways you can help and fill-out our online application to get started. VOLUNTEER

If you don’t have time to volunteer consider a donation by becoming a recurring giver through our $10 for Them Initiative. It’s a real simple way to provide the resources our children need to make sure their futures stay bright. INVEST

About the writer: Elizabeth Ku

Is a student at Vanderbilt University, double majoring in Economics and Communication Studies. She is heavily involved as a site leader with Nashville Mobile Market, an organization that brings fresh produce to impoverished neighborhoods. Elizabeth has also volunteered in a multitude of different areas, and hopes to work with a non-profit organization as a career after graduation.

Relying On Generous Donors

In recent years, Nashville charters have becoming increasingly present in the Metro-Nashville education community. Founded under the principles of educating underprivileged youth, charters have and continue to service hundreds of bright, deserving students each year since inception. Although charter schools provide a great service to the community, times have been tough for these past couple years, forcing the closing of Smithson-Craighead Middle, and others like it. One of the difficulties operating charter schools is finding the funds. They are public schools, but charter schools also rely heavily on private funding through charitable donations. With the most recent economic downturn, disposable income is not easy to come across. Additionally, as Jeremy Kane, founder of LEAD Public Schools, helped explain, many middle-class families don’t always think to donate to charter schools because they don’t see how these schools service or benefit them directly—stemming from the concept that charter schools are only meant to service lower income families.

Customized Learning Environments

One aspect that is unique to charter schools that can’t be said about comparable public schools is that charters are afforded the opportunity, through the nature of its autonomy from the public school system, to create its own culture. Schools such as LEAD Academy are able to create learning environments tailored to the specific needs of the community they serve. LEAD Academy, for example, under Kane’s leadership, has attracted teachers and students who strive for academic excellence, with college as the ultimate goal. Keeping in mind the reality that a four-year college degree is not the dream for every student, LEAD hopes to at least educate their students to a point where they would be successful in two or four-year institutions, and also trade schools. What’s most important is providing a valuable education and showing a student his or her true potential.

Going To College Is Expected

In a sit-down interview with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, he explained the value of charter schools in the Nashville community. “What I find appealing about the charter movement is its emphasis from day one on training students to go to college. When you go to a charter school, you always see a variety of college banners everywhere. Kids can tell you what year they’re going to graduate from college when they’re in third grade. The expectation is created that they are going to succeed and go to college.”

Getting The Entire Neighborhood Involved

Charter schools create smaller learning communities where students, teachers and parents all have more intimate and frequent interaction. Parents are able to be more involved in the education process, which can make graduating from high school a family effort. Around the country, educators are developing ways of being able to serve the needs of educating America’s youth. A highly cited problem of today’s system is class size—classes are just too large. To combat this problem, the idea of neighborhood schools has been tossed around. But here in Nashville, charter schools are an avenue we are just now starting to explore—these are our “neighborhood schools.” With a sufficient amount of charters, we could alleviate some of stress on the Metropolitan School System in harder hit neighborhoods, and provide new and exciting learning environments for those who might fall through the cracks at a larger institution.

Communities Thrive When All Its Residents Are Well Educated

One important notion to keep in mind is that we must always remember that we are talking about people: children. Too often we talk in terms of dollars, statistics and numbers, but when it comes to the education of Nashville’s youth, we’re referring to Nashville’s future. It doesn’t matter if you’re middle class or not, an investment in a charter school is an investment in a community, a family, a child. As educators continue to develop new ways of providing the best public education to all students, it’s important to support those who are trying, here at home, to best educate those who are too often over looked. Let’s fill in those cracks; let’s support Nashville’s charters, and most of all, the students and families they serve.

About the writer: Justin Maffett

Justin is a student at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he is majoring in Political Science. He is the staff editor and contributor to World Outlook – Dartmouth’s undergraduate journal of international relations. Justin is a Great Issues Scholar, which is a program where students in the incoming class are selected to attend and partake in discussion seminars related to climate change, global health, and international security.

While I could easily share some deep understanding or soul provoking thoughts that I’ve gained from working with these precious little ones, I also don’t want to miss the value of the laughter and the joy that’s found in their perceptions of the world around them!  So with that being said, here are some of my favorite sayings from the past 8 years…..

“Don’t you think you’re a little too old to be sending text messages?” – girl, age 7

“I’ll marry a black girl, white girl, or a Chinese girl. All the colors of the rainbow rock my world!” – boy, age 9

“Women are just littler than men. That’s just the way life lives.” – boy, age 6

“My daddy’s name is Shaun, and I KNOW you want to marry him!” – girl, age 6

“Ugh! That pencil sharpener screams like a girl!”
– girl, age 6

“We went on a field trip to the tree eater!!!….you know, that place where people act like books! (the THEATER!)”
– boy, age 6   

“Only old mans can’t have guns….cuz they only shoot animals…like deer, and crabs, and sharks, and donkeys!”
– girl, age 6

“You talk to God? Does he talk in Spanish too????”
– girl, age 7

“Miss Lindsay, my lips are krumpy….but don’t worry I licked them!” – girl, age 5

“Miss Lindsay who did your hair? It does not look good. I mean, it looks kinda pretty, but not really pretty”
– girl, age 5

Having these quotes to look back on brings some of the funniest and sweetest memories! Each child God allows us to work with at Youth Life is unique and special and it is such a privilege to have the chance to get to know them and their family. They have enriched and changed my life in ways far greater than I could have ever imagined. So if you need a good laugh, or just want to be refreshed, spend an afternoon with some kids in your community. If you truly stop and listen I guarantee you’ll not only be amused, but you’ll be amazed at the treasure they are!

About the writer: Lindsay Jamison

Lindsay is our Program Director at Youth Life Learning Centers. She has worked tirelessly with our students since 2005 and has played a major role in helping to establish quality after-school programs that help our students reach their greatest potentials.

To find out more about how you can make an impact through volunteering with Youth Life visit our volunteer page to find out ways you can help and fill-out our online application to get started. VOLUNTEER

If you don’t have time to volunteer consider a donation by becoming a recurring giver through our $10 for Them Initiative. It’s a real simple way to provide the resources our children need to make sure their futures stay bright. INVEST

Please like Youth Life on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get more updates on our students and other educational updates on our city and states.

YLLC Riverchase students recently visited the downtown library’s Civil Rights Room. The students were fully engaged in the learning experience and they walked away with a much greater understanding of the civil rights movement in Nashville. During the visit students explored the photo exhibit and discussed what the pictures represented and the stories each one told. Ms. Sabrina, one of our YLLC-Riverchase teachers, played a role in putting the Civil Rights Room together with some of her classmates and professors at American Baptist College. She was able to share, in more detail, about some of the people depicted in the pictures because she met with those people to hear about their stories and the roles they played in the struggle for civil rights in Nashville.

“I learned that it’s good when people are different, because God made us that way so we can be unique.”
- Paris McCord 2nd Grader.

The children concluded the trip with a video about an African-American student who was not allowed to enroll in East High School because of his skin color. It was very fascinating for them to hear stories about people and places so close to home. During Black History Month the students had been discussing fairness and equality so the trip to the library was the perfect way to expand upon those lessons and give the children an engaging visual presentation that really brought together all they have been learning. Overall it was a wonderful and meaningful experience for the children and best of all, it was free!

Our thanks to the teachers of YLLC-Riverchase for sharing this great learning experience with our kids and a special thanks to Sabrina Day for her hard work in helping to make the Civil Rights Room at the library an engaging and meaningful environment to learn about the civil rights movement. If you have not yet explored the civil rights exhibit within the Civil Rights Room, we encourage all to do so. It is great way to learn about our cities history and how Nashville responded during those very tumultuous years.

Youth Life Student working diligently on his classroom assignments during Summer Camp 2012

I attended the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) meeting on February 5, 2013 to hear the report put out by SCORE.  A lot of information was shared about the State of education in our State.  The one thing that I took away was that we still have a lot of work to do.  Our students need to be able to compete with not just the students in our State, but across the nation and internationally.  The panel presenters  (Speaker Harwell, Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, Dr. Kandi Hill-Clark, Ms. Allyson Chick – TN Teacher of the year, Ayers Foundation) were very informative and shared several things that we have to work on as a State.  Ms. Allyson Chick (TN teacher of year) continued to bring us back to the student.  We can sometimes forget that at the end of the day it’s about the student and equipping and preparing teachers to work with them.  A statement that I will not ever forget came from Dr. Kandi Hill-Clark “We must have principals who are being prepared as instructional leaders.”  One of the things that we have to really focus on is preparing students based on their learning style and creating individual learning plans for each student. Individual learning plans shouldn’t only be seen as something for special education students.  Youth Life has seen the benefits of using Individual Learning Plans for each student. Please click link to see the full report SCOREREPORT.

Steps to Individualized Learning

Inform: After getting teachers on board, provide information to parents and students on the benefits of individualized learning.

Inspire: Generate support by getting all parties to understand the benefits of personalized approach.

Investigate: Select a method to identify individual students’ strengths and weaknesses, such as diagnostic tests.

Involve: Bring together all parties, students as well as parents and teachers, to help plan the process.

Individualize: Create personalized “smart” goals and learning plans for each of your students.

Initiate: Organize resources (time, personnel, space, materials, computers) and set learning plans in motion.

Implement: Evaluate progress of each student’s plan and measure achievement on a quarterly basis.

To find out more about how you can make an impact through volunteering with Youth Life visit our volunteer page to find out ways you can help and fill-out our online application to get started. VOLUNTEER

If you don’t have time to volunteer consider a donation by becoming a recurring giver through our $10 for Them Initiative. It’s a real simple way to provide the resources our children need to make sure their futures stay bright. INVEST

Please like Youth Life on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get more updates on our students and other educational updates on our city and states.

About the writer: Yolanda Shields

is CEO Youth Life Foundation of Tennessee and works with several national and international humanitarian organizations.

1. Explain why you shouldn’t fear setting a goal.

When setting a goal, it’s very important that children get over any fear of failure. Many times it’s not the fear of their own disappointment that scares them the most, but instead, the thought of having let everyone around them down. A child fears that adults might feel as though their time was wasted, or that the child didn’t try. Children need to be in an environment where it’s safe to “fail.” At the beginning, it might appear daunting to them, but it’s guaranteed that they will never achieve what it is you want to if they don’t try. As we explain to our campers, “Every thousand mile journey starts with one step.” What this means to me is that we all have to dare to take that one step, if not, we’ll never know where it could have taken us. If it helps, explain how the process of setting and achieving a goal is like a going on a journey, where you’ll learn from a bunch of different experiences, even if he/she doesn’t achieve the original goal. It’s impossible to anticipate or predict what impact a person or experience might have on a child along the way.

 2. Have your child set a long-term goal.

It’s important for them to have an idea as to where they see themselves after a certain period of time. For our campers, it might be that they would like to be a better sailor, or get a specific rank in Archery by the end of the four-week session. It doesn’t have to be specific. In fact, in many ways it can be beneficial that it not be so that you leave room for change. If its too specific, they might turn down opportunities along the way that could have been just as fun and educational. For me, last year, I set a goal of being a better counselor than the previous year. That being the end goal, it gave me destination, but not the directions; it’s great that I knew where I wanted to go, but what’s more important is my knowing how to get there. So I had to develop a way of gauging my success along the way. This is where I’ve seen most people loose sight of their goals, which leads me to my next point.

 3. Have your child break up his/her long-term goal into smaller short-term goals.

For example, we’ll break up the four-week session into the individual weeks, and set weekly goals. If you slice and dice the goal, it doesn’t seem as large and difficulty. The bite-size pieces are easier for them to envision, and therefore easier to achieve. The long-term goal is often too abstract for them to fully understand what it takes for them to achieve it; but the short-term goals are more concrete, and simple. Children need to know what exactly is expected of them for them to create results. If you leave it to them, its very possible they’ll come back empty handed and not be able to explain why. Short-term goals vary from daily tasks, to more difficult multi-step accomplishments, so it helps to write them out. This leads me to my next step.

 4. Create a chart that shows all of the goals, both short and long-term.

It’s extremely important to write a child’s goal down, both for yourself and for them. On the second night at camp, as we tuck the campers in, we ask what goals they’d like to achieve, and write them down in our note pads. We do this because three weeks late, its very possible they’ll forget exactly what it is they said. We keep these note pads in a safe place, only relying on them if the child forgets, but we want them to own and be responsible for the process. We create a gridded sheet, and have each child fill in the boxes with his goal. It’s important that they write it so they feel a created sense of ownership over the entire process.

This is an over simplified version of our “Goal Sheet” but the idea is the same. Break up the goal into smaller ones with due dates. It’s great to have a chart printed on colored paper because its both looks more fun/appealing and the child can color in their achievements with other colors, making the idea of accomplishment more concrete in their minds. We actually printed our sheets on yellow paper, and referred to them as “Gold Sheets,” instead of constantly referring to, “goal.” This process will sometimes turn more into the desire to fill in another box, without them realizes that they are achieving goals along the way. By the end of the process, they will have a piece of paper, almost like a certificate, which shows all that they had accomplished, which is a great souvenir to hang up.

 5. Display the “Goal Sheet” somewhere easily visible and within reach

It’s important to display the “goal sheet” so that it becomes a ritual, of sort, to fill it in. At camp, it’s seen as an ever-changing trophy—something worthy of being on display because accomplishment is always deserving of showcasing. It’s best to put it in a place that your child will see every day—maybe the middle of the refrigerator, or their bedroom door. Have it within their reach so that he or she can fill in the boxes right after a task is complete. Often campers would fill it in when we’re not watching so that they could surprise us.

Displaying it also invites others, either in the cabin, or at home within the family, to get involved in the process. If everyone in the house is involved, more people can check in on your child’s progress. At camp, we display the sheets on each camper’s locker, visible to every other camper. This brings the accountability down to their peer level, adding a different dimension to the whole process that an adult couldn’t achieve. This can be replicated at home by involving a sibling or cousin. Having that “safe-to-fail” is crucial at this point, because this is the point that makes children the most uncomfortable. We, as counselors, view their goals as a community effort where we are all here to help, but they might view sharing as raising the stakes because everyone knows about it, and therefore it will be that much more embarrassing if they fail to accomplish it.

 6. Set a Time Every Week to Check the Sheet.

For us, we would check their sheets together every Monday night. I prefer Mondays because it allows us to see what they accomplished the week before, but gives us the opportunity to discuss how they’ll move forward in the coming week before everything gets busier. I would also check in periodically at night while they got into bed by asking for an update. I would simply ask, “what did you do today,” or “did you complete anything today,” and the camper will go off on a story. Children will want to achieve something because they know that come Monday, I will ask them about it, and they want to have something worth sharing.

 7. Repackage failure as an “Experience.” Find accomplishment in completed tasks.

A child might dwell on the sole fact that he or she didn’t accomplish, instead of looking at the amazing fact that they even tried. We spend little time talking about “failure.” Instead, push the importance of moving on and resetting goals. Fortunately, the goals weren’t set in stone, just paper. Make a second sheet! Keep moving forward and get them re-engaged in whatever he or she was doing. At the end of the session, if the camper didn’t complete exactly what he originally wanted, we sit down and highlight what he did accomplish and make a plan for next summer. This gets them excited not only to come back, but more importantly, excited to try again.

 8. If your child did accomplish his or her goal, celebrate.

Celebrating achievement is the most important part of this entire process, because it makes it all worth it for them. My deepest regret as a counselor was failing to celebrate one of my camper’s achievement. I didn’t realize how much he valued my praise. Being twelve year old, my campers spent so much time acting indifferent to my existence. But through this multi-step process, he could see that we cared, and were highly invested in his success. Because of that, he deeply respected us in ways he wouldn’t, express. I later made it up to him after apologizing and spending the day with him out skiing. But even more so than for counselors, children deeply value the praise of their parents—especially during those rocky teen years when they’ll act as though they couldn’t care less about your praise. That’s actually when they need it the most.

This process of goal setting is implemented across all ages at camp: from six to seventeen. As the ages change, so does the sheet. During the summer I teach this method, but during the off seasons, I use it in my own life. I relied heavily on writing out my goals and displaying them for my parents and myself during the college process. I also had to get over my fear of possible rejection from my top schools. The college process is the perfect example of a time when many high school seniors feel extremely uncomfortable sharing with others their goals, specifically where they are applying, because many fear the disappointment others might have if they are later rejected. I learned, from being a camp counselor, and seeing the success of this method, that I had to let other be involved in my college application process. People truly just want to be apart of the process; they weren’t going to be ashamed of me if things didn’t work out. Because I allowed people to get involved, I met many people along the way who helped me make connections that I wouldn’t have otherwise made or found. Ultimately, I accomplished my long-term goal, which was getting accepted to my dream school, thanks in large part to the goal setting tools I learned, and continue to teach, at camp.

Are you good at helping others reach their goals

Help our students do just that at Youth Life!  We are constantly in need of good people to help our children thrive and reach their God given potentials. It is our mission to aid the development of every child who walks through our doors and see to it that each one of their dreams is realized. be a part of shaping the next generation with us. Here are some ways you can help!

To find out more about how you can make an impact through volunteering with Youth Life visit our volunteer page to find out ways you can help and fill-out our online application to get started. VOLUNTEER

If you don’t have time to volunteer consider a donation by becoming a recurring giver through our $10 for Them Initiative. It’s a real simple way to provide the resources our children need to make sure their futures stay bright. INVEST

About the writer: Justin Maffett

Justin is a student at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he is majoring in Political Science. He is the staff editor and contributor to World Outlook – Dartmouth’s undergraduate journal of international relations. Justin is a Great Issues Scholar, which is a program where students in the incoming class are selected to attend and partake in discussion seminars related to climate change, global health, and international security.

In a world where new technology can be a distraction and sometimes a major deterrent to education Mr. Gerald Grubb has been an innovative and unwavering participant in leading our students to great academic growth through the use of modern technology.

Mr. Grubb shows up religiously to our Hillside Center where he has been volunteering since the spring of 2011. Everyday from 4:30 to 6:30 you will find him helping students with their homework and showing them fun new ways to use new technology to grow academically. His commitment to seeing children do well in our community is unceasing and this was greatly evident when he lost his home to a fire recently and still walked through our door to be there for our kids. He was not deterred, and this level of volunteer commitment is an example of what it is to be unfailing in ones purpose.

Educating with intention

Mr Grubb wants to help as many kids as possible learn and grow, especially in the area of technology. As he simply puts it “I volunteer because, as an elementary school teacher, I have a long standing interest in kids, learning and technology” An elementary school teacher by day at Julia Green Elementary School, and a volunteer tutor in the late afternoon at Youth Life, Mr. Grubb is surely seeing to it that his intentions are being carried out by impacting a multitude of young lives.

Making an impact

To make the impact he wanted especially in the arena of interactively engaging and teaching our students with new technology, Mr Grubb created an iPad Center at Hillside. An iPad Center in which he generously donated five brand new iPads and three laptop computers to get it kick-started. Intrigued by the abilities of the kids to make their way through the educational inquiry, discovery, practice, information, and/or thinking processes of a given app, he knows the power this new technology can deliver and wants to make sure that this generation is implementing its tools so growth and learning are at the forefront of its use.

Since then he has introduced our kids to numerous brilliantly contrived apps available for elementary kids. He is always encouraging our kids to try new apps and stay with a given app until they have figured it out and mastered the challenge. We have seen great changes in our students as they explore and participate with these new educational gadgets. Our students at Hillside are now experiencing levels of educational satisfaction not often seen with paper and pencil. Mr. Grubb’s influence is the primary reason for this change and he has been an invaluable volunteer in the Youth Life community.

Setting the example for real change

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. Mr. Grubb truly is they embodiment of this popular quote by Margaret Mead. Our communities have many bright children who are very eager to learn, but students coming from underprivileged neighborhoods are often coming into our centers behind their public school peers. Mr. Grubb believes that volunteering with Youth Life Learning Centers will encourage other kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school, and even college teachers to donate additional time and passion to teaching students from low-income neighborhoods.

We need more volunteers like Mr. Grubb who have a tremendous desire to see the children in our community succeed. The students and parents are so excited to see him taking time out after he teaches all day to come and spend more time in their neighborhood. He just can’t stop teaching!  While some teachers might be exhausted after a full day of instructing third-graders, Mr. Grubb is ready for more and we are glad that he chose Youth Life Learning Centers.

Opportunities to be the change

To find out more about how you can make an impact through volunteering with Youth Life visit our volunteer page to find out ways you can help and fill-out our online application to get started. VOLUNTEER

If you don’t have time to volunteer consider a donation by becoming a recurring giver through our $10 for Them Initiative. It’s a real simple way to provide the resources our children need to make sure their futures stay bright. INVEST

My visit to the Easley Center

I volunteered at the Edgehill Community Center for two years in High School. Every Monday, between the end of school and the start of swim practice, I would venture down the street and tutor students in elementary school with math and reading. Unfortunately, that organization had to close its doors earlier this year, leaving both a hole in the community, and at my school that was passionate about that centers’ work. Fortunately, the Edgehill Community Center was not the only learning center in the neighborhood. The Easley Center, one of Youth Life Learning Center’s six locations, is located directly across the street. Recently, I ventured back down Edgehill Avenue to visit Ms. Sherry’s class at the Easley Center to see some of the work Youth Life Learning Centers does.

Immediately upon walking into the room, you know that it’s a safe learning environment for students to work, play, and make meaningful friendships. The walls are a soothing tan, and the floors are hardwood. Along the back wall are bookshelves stocked full with pleasure reading material. In the main area, there are two leather sofas and two comfy suede chairs. The room is completely empty except for the teacher and one student—the rest are outside in the gym, using the remainder of their free time before they come in and work. I took this opportunity to sit down and talk to Ms. Sherry and Tonnesha Simpson in one of the two comfy-chairs.

Tonnesha is a freshman at Hillsboro High School in Green Hills, making her the only high school aged student at this location. As she introduces herself, the other students come in from break time. Each student spreads out to different corners of the room: two sprawl out on the opposing couches, and the others disappear into the reading area for quiet studying. Ms. Sherry begins to hover and rotate from student to student—checking to make sure each student is on-task. It’s at this time that I realize the classroom expectations, clearly posted on the wall: be respectful; be honest & trustworthy; be responsible; keep electronics silent; follow instructions; keep your hands to yourself. From what I could tell, it appeared that these rules were closely followed; the room was silent.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

As I look around the room, movement in the corner of my eye grabs my attention, Tonnesha is shaking her head disapprovingly. I asked why. She had taken out and checked her reading log, realizing she hadn’t read a full book since November 1. I chuckled—this wasn’t the reaction I would expect from a high school freshman. I asked her the age-old question every person asks a younger student: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Turns out, she aspires to be a surgeon. She doesn’t know what kind, but a surgeon nonetheless. She enjoys school, specifically Algebra and Biology. She stops for a second, and asks the other two boys, who are working out of math textbooks on the couches, if they would like some of her crackers. Unsurprisingly, the two middle school boys say yes.

“I plan to go to college-there is no other option.”

- Tonnesha Simpson

As she turns back to me, she explains that she’s always been interested in becoming a doctor. I asked her about Hillsboro, because I know they have a health program within their curriculum. She replies that she’s currently in the Freshman Academy, but that she will have to make a decision as to what classes to take in February. Outside of classes, she says that she likes school, but that Hillsboro has a lot of “drama.” But she doesn’t let this get to her. She keeps the good friends she made the previous years in 7th and 8th grade, keeping her circle of friends close. I shared my own high school experience with choosing good friends, although it might have been easier in my case since I went to a smaller school. The idea was the same though: choose friends that are as interested in school as you are. If you don’t, they might let other things, drama or what have you, get between you and your own achievement. It sounded like she’d heard something similar. She said that she already planned on attending college. In fact, as she put it, “there’s no other option.” She explains that her parents say there’s no choice in the matter. With her wanting to become a doctor, she wants to go anyway.

At this point I feel like a distraction, so I pack up my stuff to leave. On my way out, though, I notice on the wall the daily schedule. On it, it has the afternoon divided into seven periods. I ask Ms. Sherry about number 5, which is labeled “OPS.” She explains that it’s a time for individual goal setting. At the beginning of the year each student sits down with the teacher and maps out what he or she would like to achieve that year. This was a period each day to check in and see if they remain on track. I scanned the room one last time, thinking of what some of the other students aspired to be, and what goals they had set for the year. I left feeling confident that each student would accomplish them, especially at a place like the Easley Center.

About the writer: Justin Maffett

Justin is a student at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he is majoring in Political Science. He is the staff editor and contributor to World Outlook – Dartmouth’s undergraduate journal of international relations. Justin is a Great Issues Scholar, which is a program where students in the incoming class are selected to attend and partake in discussion seminars related to climate change, global health, and international security.

Justin Maffett

has been interning in our communications department while on his break, for the Christmas season, from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire where he is majoring in Political Science. He is the staff editor and contributor to World Outlook – Dartmouth’s undergraduate journal of international relations. Justin is a Great Issues Scholar, which is a program where students in the incoming class are selected to attend and partake in discussion seminars related to climate change, global health, and international security. He was previously a member of the Fencing Team, and now is currently a member of the Club Swim Team.

In his spare time from all his Dartmouth activities Justin enjoys landscape photography. He wakes up early some mornings to capture the beautiful autumn colors of the New England countryside to the frozen trees and light snow of this past November. When spending time with his roommates Justin likes to play video games, listen to music, and snack on many apples, which the school’s dining hall does not have enough inventory of to meet Justin and his roommates consumption needs. Justin says he needs lots of apples because they are a great study food, packed with the mineral boron which helps to boost mental alertness.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut Justin lived in Baltimore, Maryland till he was seven before his family moved to Nashville where he attended the University School of Nashville for 10 years. He graduated from there in 2012 and continues to study French this past year at Dartmouth, something he has been studying since 7^th grade.

Help us welcome Justin to Youth Life, we are grateful to have him working with us this December. Be on the look-out for some great stories he is working on, we will be posting them to our blog over the next two months.