| The Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound’s North Mason Branch has won one of the most prestigious awards given through Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Celebrating more than 40 years in existence, and sponsored by MetLife Foundation, the Honor Awards for Program Excellence is Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s most prestigious program award. Only five Honor Awards and ten Merit Awards are presented nationally each year to Clubs with outstanding, locally developed programs in each core area. There are nearly 4500 clubs nationwide who compete for these honors.
Billie Schmidt, director of Branches, Programs, and Operations in the West Sound, which North Mason is a part of, accepted the award at a special reception at the Boys & Girls Clubs National Conference on May 9. The Club received a $1000 award from MetLife Foundation.
The North Mason Club’s Summer Teen Program was chosen as a Merit Award Winner for Character and Leadership Programming. This program which serves 7th – 12th graders has two components. The middle school component is the Teen Adventure Camp which is primarily field trip based and can hold up to 20 middle school members each week (that’s the number that fit into the Club’s vans). Members participate in weekly fundraising efforts to support their summer activities, community service projects, educational and career development activities, and fun recreational field trips and activities. Members help choose and plan the activities with the staff members, as well. This assures that the teens are involved, engaged, and have input in the activities they will be participating in.
The high school component is the Counselor in Training Program, which served 17 teens last summer. In this program high school age teens learn job readiness skills and receive training in working with children. The program lasts for 6-9 weeks. Members volunteer in assisting with the day camp program. They learn the soft skills of employment (what do employers require of employees - such as being reliable, hard working, taking directions, etc), they have also received some training in interviewing for jobs, what to wear etc, with the help of Work Force in Shelton.
In addition they are taught skills in working with kids (being flexible, running age appropriate activities, group management). Teens are evaluated individually each week by their supervisor in a friendly manner which applauds their successes and guides them to improve areas as needed. These teens can earn up to 330 volunteer service hours if they volunteer all summer. Because they serve so many volunteer hours, their membership fees are waived and a summer’s end trip to Wild Waves serves as a reward and a big thank you for their service over the summer.
Entries were screened and judged based on the following criteria:
- Programs are designed so that members have fun while developing good character.
- Programs support BGCA’s strategic goals of having a more profound and beneficial impact on youth by increasing frequency of attendance, level of participation and tenure as members.
- Key Elements of Positive Youth Development: safe, positive environment; fun; supportive relationships; opportunities and expectations; and recognition.
- Innovation, creativity and originality are evident in the programs.
- The program can be easily replicated by other Clubs.
To learn more about these programs, please contact Billie Schmidt or Mike Loughlin at (360) 362-1854 or visit www.bg-clubs.com.
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