Edwin Warner Park Field Trip

Students from Youth Life Center West enjoy a hike through the park

 

YLLC West students who earned sixteen points or more this week got to enjoy a Friday field trip to Edwin Warner Park. It is part of YLLC’s mission to have our children spend more time outdoors and experience the beauty of God’s creation and develop a greater appreciation for our planet.

Appreciating God’s Creation

Teachers – Brittany Argabright, Lesley Parker, and Brecia Martin chaperoned the children as they participated in some fun outdoor activities. The weather was perfect with a high of 79 and low humidity. The older students, grades 3 through 8 took a hike through the walking trails and got to see tadpoles swimming in a pond.

“This was a great experience for them because it reinforced what they have been learning in their science classes at the center.”

– Brecia Martin, Youth Life Teacher – Grades 2nd-4th.

“That was so much fun. I want to to come back.”

– From one of our 7th graders

While the older students took a hike the Kindergarten through 2nd graders played in the nature playground. They put their toy shovels to use creating a dirt hole and filling it with water to create a mud river. The kids also had a blast with the play centers natural obstacles by climbing up on rocks and jumping over tree logs. Another exciting highlight of the day was getting to listen to all the crickets as they hiked the lower level acorn trail.

Danielle Wright has an eager curiosity for learning

Sometimes there is a student who is always seeking, wondering, and exuding a very curious nature.  This student will typically go out of their way to uncover an unresolved answer and will crave more information.  He or she simply loves the art of learning and will never stop seeking understanding.  For YLLC-Hillside, that student is Julia Green Elementary School third-grader, Danielle Wright.  In most scenarios, you can find Danielle raising her hand to ask a question, in such a way as to put her whole body into getting that hand as high as it can go with a wide, eager grin.  Sometimes difficult to stay seated, she throws herself into learning as much as possible!  In fact, she was thrilled when Mr. Grubb donated iPads, as they have allowed her to explore new areas of learning with her great, curious spirit.

As outgoing as she is, it is no wonder that Danielle not only loves to dance and sing, but also possesses a soft, caring side shown in her desire to someday become a veterinarian.  Moreover, her YLLC teacher describes her as “polite and inquisitive.”

Danielle Wright, pictured in pink, is asking Belmont student all about nursing at "Make a Major Difference."

She makes friends easily with her outgoing personality and is always friendly toward everyone who comes to Youth Life Learning Centers.  Seemingly contagious, Danielle’s enthusiasm for learning has rubbed off on some of her YLLC-Hillside friends.  During “Make a Major Difference” last year, for example, Danielle had many questions for all of the Belmont students that came to talk about their major.  She wanted to know how things worked, what they studied, and what she would need to fill their shoes.  This allows teachers, visitors, volunteers and donors to see their influence first hand and answer any questions she may have, whether it’s homework-related or not.

Genuinely grateful for opportunities given to her, she would like to personally thank all volunteers and donors for helping her at Youth Life.  Her grades have improved with their help!

If you are not familiar with our programming, start acting like Danielle and get curious.  Sign up today to answer questions and teach students who are eager to learn.

Dr. Kemp gives Youth Life students and families a reason to smile.

Dr. Phillip Kemp, DDS, Brentwood, Tennessee dentist at Kemp Dental, will be performing free dental care to our students and their families at YLLC-Kirkpatrick on April 21st through his Hope Smiles initiative.  Hope Smiles, a nonprofit, Christian organization, aims to “help individuals receive restorative and cosmetic dental work at little or no cost, made possible by community and private financial support, donated materials and volunteer dental professionals.”  Hope Smiles also gives dental students, soon to be dentists, the opportunity to work with his team.  Although this care will be provided, he hopes that his efforts will reflect on a focus for restoration and love of students and families.

Knowing Yolanda Shields,  CEO of Youth Life Learning Centers, for over fifteen years, first as a patient and now as a friend, Dr. Kemp saw a need among YLLC’s family members and students.  Taking notice of what our organization provides, he believes that we lead hope and change within the at-risk environments served at Youth Life.

“Dentistry is an unmet need in our country,” says Dr. Kemp. “Unfortunately, there are so many who experience pain and discomfort with no hope for relief. Hope Smiles is our small part of bringing a glimpse of hope to a situation that can often feel hopeless. …The need is so great. One of the number one reasons that kids miss school is due to dental pain. This breaks my heart and should not be the case. Also, not to be able to confidently smile significantly effects one’s self-esteem and can also prevent someone from securing employment. The name, Hope Smiles, was chosen because of just like it sounds, Hope Smiles. When someone has hope, he or she cannot help but smile. We love being able to help people smile. We love to share hope.”

When he reflects on lives changed, Dr. Kemp recalls a particular girl, who at one time struggled with an eating disorder.  She felt that God was able to pull her out of these times to find a new sense of peace and love.  Each time the girl looked in the mirror, however, she was reminded of this past struggle by the look of her teeth, which had eroded away.  After transforming her teeth, her new smile brought not only a physical healing, but also an emotional one by erasing a painful reminder.

Dr. Kemp wants to tell all of the students served at Youth Life Learning Centers to never give up and trust God in all that they do.  The staff and YLLC students and families members would like to give him a special thank you for his efforts that will not just provide smiles but a sense of restoration, hope and love.

Spring Break doesn’t mean a break from learning

Youth Life Learning Centers has had a busy Spring Break in Nashville, home to five of our centers.  Although many of their peers will be at home watching television or playing in the backyard with friends, we gave our students a chance to continue learning on their break.  Learning opportunities were provided to students in a variety of ways through field trips and service projects.

Youth Life’s students, who are in grades third or higher, were given the opportunity to attend a retreat at Bethel World Outreach in Brentwood.  On this Spring Break retreat, students participated in sessions focused on identify, purpose, abstinence & purity (with older group only), service, and intimacy with Christ.

YLLC-West took their Spring Break adventures to new learning levels at The Adventure Science Center when the museum donated tickets for the kids to attend.  Students made their way through the Cyberchase exhibit, which is based on the math mystery cartoon, Cyberchase from the Emmy award-winning PBS KIDS GO!  Students exclaimed, “This is fun!” while learning from “the control central,” “the grim wreaked,” “poddleville,” and many other activities.

YLLC-Easley students went to Grocer’s Edgehill to encourage 2012 voters with flyer registrations.  This allowed students to serve their community in a unique way by encouraging their community’s voice, no matter their views, to be heard.

Several YLLC-Riverchase students are apart of the Backyard Leadership team and were able to visit The Frist Center for Visual Arts on a Backyard field trip.  These students also did several projects at their site, including bead art.

Visit our  Facebook page to see more pictures from our 2012 Spring Break!

Student choir travels from Hoover, Alabama to serve for their Spring Break

The student choir at Hunter Street Baptist Church contacted Youth Life Learning Centers to ask if they could spend their Spring Break serving our students.  Once the connection was made and the details were discussed, we became very excited for our visitors.  Hunter Street’s 70-student choir then made the three-and-a-half hour drive from Hoover, Alabama, to sing to our students at YLLC-Easley.

From there, the choir split up to go to all five centers in Nashville to help Youth Life students in any way they could–with homework, activity time, playing outside, individual learning plans called O.P.S. (Opportunities, Procedures and Statuses) and reading.  The group even donated supplies and snacks to our programming!

On behalf of Youth Life Learning Centers, we would like to thank Hunter Street Baptist Church’s student choir for traveling all the way up from Hoover on their Spring Break to bring joy to our students– with their donations, entertainment, time and overall service.  It was such a pleasure having them!

If you are interested in donating supplies like those given to us from this amazing student choir, make sure to check out our on-going wish list for ideas.

Rosa Parks play by Youth Life Learning Centers at Riverchase

For Black History Month 2012, YLLC-Rivechase students create a short play based on Rosa Parks.

Students start off with a brief overview on Rosa Park’s story during The Civil Rights Movement.  At 0:52, their Rosa Parks play begins.  Listen carefully as students use yellow shirts to indicate those who can sit in the front of the bus versus those who cannot.  In their play, “Rosa Parks,” refuses to sit in the back of the bus even though she is not wearing a yellow shirt.  She is immediately arrested.  Shortly after her release from jail, she begins a boycott.  See clip below to watch the play.

“I learned that Rosa Parks started the bus boycott.  And I learned that we need to treat people fair.”  -Dyamond Armstrong, fifth-grade YLLC-Riverchase student.

What else went on at YLLC-Riverchase for Black History Month?  The students at YLLC-Riverchase were given a choice of writing a song, making a poster, or doing this play.  When the boys decided to write and perform a song about Louis Armstrong, the girls decided to break off and put together this play.

The students were very excited to practice their performances.  No one wanted to go to activity time all week!  They begged to work on their performances longer.

Deja West is quick to help her YLLC peers

Deja West, fifth grader at Keystone Elementary School, has been attending YLLC-Memphis after school in the fall of 2010.  Since then, her YLLC teacher has seen a big improvement in her grades and attitude.  Deja is many times the first to finish homework and start cleaning up.

Deja West, pictured second from the right

Not only is she a leader, but Deja is also “quick to help,” says her YLLC teacher.   In fact, some of the younger YLLC-Memphis students were struggling with spelling, so Deja took it upon herself to create spelling pretests for these students and taught them to use helpful tricks for memorization like acronyms.  With her caring efforts, these younger students seem to be doing a lot better on their spelling tests according to her YLLC teacher.

Her teacher believes it is because of the mentoring that Youth Life provides that she is able to mimic that positive, helpful attitude and get excited about the program of which she is apart.  She loves the Fun Fridays, daily Bible devotions, community events and homework help that Youth Life has to offer.  We are so thrilled that Deja is as excited to be apart of Youth Life as we are to have her in our program.

Terriana Waters shows leadership for the next generation

D0 you remember that student in your classroom who seemed like a natural born leader?  Well for YLLC-Easley, that student is Terriana Waters.  It is no surprise to other students when she wins an award at the center, such as the “Most Respected Student Award,” voted on by her peers and Youth Life volunteers.  She has also been leading in the amount of YLLC bucks, which are used as incentives for hard work, since the beginning of the school year.  Terriana’s hard work is proven when she makes the honor roll in school for getting all As and Bs.

“..She seemed a little leery and reluctant with us at first, but she is very much a positive attribute to our group now,” says her teacher at YLLC-Easley.  “She is a great leader, because she takes all aspects of our program seriously and fulfills her responsibilities.  Not only does she work hard on her school and program work, but Terriana even volunteers to do extra work or chores around the center.  The students know she makes the right choices, which is why they voted her as the student who displays the most respect.”

Leadership doesn’t come natural to some.  For some, it takes time and practice.  Whether born or made, we must start taking a closer look at the next generation of leaders.  After all, they are our tomorrow, too.  Don’t you want to make tomorrow better?  

To volunteer with students like Terriana, register today.

Tashi McClain encourages students with some tough love.

Each Thursday and Friday, Tashi McClain gets to interact with kids on a one-on-one basis, while going on fun field trips, such as a trip to a Halloween corn maze.  After hearing about Youth Life on a freshman year field trip with one of her classes, Tashi, a Lipscomb University senior, studying law, justice and society, and a member of her school’s Phi Alpha Delta, later came across Youth Life again and decided to take action.  She has been volunteering in YLLC West’s middle school classroom for the past year and a half.  Although the days of the week have varied due to the class schedule that semester, Tashi’s mission is the same– to encourage the students that they can succeed.  She says that when the students complain about work being too difficult or too long, rather than sugar-coating it, she tells students that homework only gets more difficult when you get to college and that understanding the foundation for education will help them later.  Encouragement from students not to give up is sometimes all they need, no matter their circumstances.

“I want to be an example for them [communicating to them] that no matter what background you are from, you can do whatever you want to do.  I came from a single-parent home like many of the YLLC students… even though I fell under that statistic, I didn’t let that stop me from reaching my goals.”

Tashi is truly one who sets an example for those at Youth Life.  When students see that she is still able to volunteer at the centers twice per week to help students with their homework, they too feel they can step it up.  Tashi would like to invite others to volunteer with her at Youth Life Learning Centers.

“Give it a chance,” she says.  “You can’t change the world, but you can make a difference with one student at a time.  You don’t need to come every day, but if you change one life, they can change other lives.  You can start the chain and think about the greater good.  And it honestly doesn’t take a lot, even if it’s only one or two hours per week.”

Pajama Party Read Day for Afterschool Alliance’s “Lights On Afterschool”

Students celebrate Afterschool Alliance's initiative, "Lights on Afterschool" with a Pajama Party Read Day

YLLC students came to our centers cozy and warm in pajamas, some with their blankets and teddy bears.  That’s right.  YLLC threw a Pajama Party yesterday in celebration of Afterschool Alliance’s “Lights on Afterschool” initiative!  Students took a time off from their fall break to curl up and read a great book with their friends and enjoy some delicious pancakes.  Reading in their pajamas made reading that much more fun!

According to Afterschool Alliance, “one million Americans and more than 7,500 communities nationwide are celebrating the afterschool programs that keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families.”

We ask that you too celebrate afterschool programming in your own way, whether it’s through a donation, dedicating yourself to volunteering with students at YLLC or a local school or simply raising awareness about this critical initiative.

For additional pictures from our Pajama Party Read Day, visit our Facebook page.