There’s a lot to catch up on, so let’s go! Here are the
highlights.
Two:fiftytwo After School Program- We’ve baked
bread. We wrote and performed songs/raps about our perfect day. We ran, jumped
rope, threw footballs, leaped, and dribbled and competed with ourselves. We’ve
had entrepreneurs and a saxophonist come talk about their careers. We made
mosaics. We broke wooden boards with our fists thanks to a martial arts
instructor. When listing all these things, you could think, “Wow what a great
program!” But I believe what makes the program great is Braden laughing at how
far someone punched their wooden board across the room, Harmony offering to
help set up field day by writing instructions with chalk, parents asking Ms.
Hope for the recipe for the bread their kids made, Chance overcoming his fears
to get up in front of everyone and perform his song. Who cares about the
activities themselves. What the activities bring out in the kids, a growing
confidence, surprised discoveries, comradery, growing trust and friendship with
each other, these are the things that I live for. What positive memories can be
made and had together that will help propel them to feel confident in tougher
situations in their futures? The school year is almost over, and it feels as
though we are just beginning to see the lights turn on.
BLOCK Middle and High School Program- This program
being my main focus, I always am looking for ways to help these pre-teens and
teens grow into successful adult versions of themselves. My hope this year was
to help them learn about themselves, learn about God, give them experiences
they’ve never had before, and have fun along the way. BLOCK has always seemed
to bring everyone together like glue. Friendships are strong here. There haven’t
been any behavioral issues the past couple years, and I feel as though the
students are growing into the potential that I’ve seen in them for years. Most
of these students I’ve known for many years. I had our high school students
plan our end of the year field trip and its requirements. Students designed
each month’s Open Court flyers. Students helped at some volunteer events,
sacrificing a Saturday to either clean up trash, help at a Celebrate Jax Trails
event, or attend our bake sale fundraiser to help with field trip funds. We
have a consistent four students help out at our after school program as well. I’m
excited to see this Leadership Development Pathway flourish, where students go
to our after school program, graduate into our BLOCK program, and eventually take
on leadership roles within our programs or summer camp, being a local example
to the younger kids who already have expressed interest in wanting to follow in
their footsteps. We’re happy to be a small part in building into who God wants
them to be. We plan to go to Universal Studios in June. Follow us on Instagram at
block_brentwood to keep up with all we’ve been up to this year.
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| Max got to come to our field trip to the arboretum and water color some nature |
A car club came to talk about basic car care, I learned where the wiper fluid goes
In March, we had a focus of on music
