Why Tennessee Needs You to Care

The state we know and love recently learned some news in education that may have been difficult to hear.  However, it is important that we understand why services like Youth Life are needed in this community.  If you aren’t sure what I might be talking about, please read the article below.

According to 2011 National Assessment of Education Progress, Tennessee dropped one to seven places in the national ranking, putting the state in the bottom ten for reading and math among fourth and eighth grade levels.  Read more.

Although this is our present state, it does not have to be our future.  Articles like this make you realize why Tennessee needs you to care and make a stand for a change in academics.  Services like ours provides students with the right tools to complete their homework, learn what they may not have understood in the classroom, and receive one-on-one time strengthening their academic weaknesses.  This is why it is critical to support services like Youth Life for not only the future of these students’ lives, but also for the sake of our state.

If you haven’t made the decision to change the future of Tennessee, start today.

1. Give $10 to Youth Life through our $Ten for Tenn. Campaign!
2. Help students with their homework
3. Become a mentor to a student living in the inner-city

“I feel like a father figure for some students,” – says YLLC volunteer, Chris Sax

Chris Sax helps YLLC Easley students with their homework.

Chris Sax, recent music business graduate of Belmont University and employee at Mix 92.9, first discovered Youth Life Learning Centers through Barry Lee, Missionary at Every Nations Ministries and ENCM Campus Director for Belmont and Vanderbilt Universities.  After volunteering only a few times at Youth Life, Chris felt God was calling him to serve and give back more in this community.  He now volunteers at Easley on Mondays and Wednesdays and at Hillside on Tuesdays for a total of 5 – 10 hours per week, where he has grown to truly love the students.

“When I get to Youth Life, a couple of the younger kids will grab your hand and say, ‘You need to help me with homework,’ or jump on me.  Being young and single and not always being surrounded by that, [and] in a sense, feeling needed is very rewarding…You don’t have someone saying, ‘I need you’ in your everyday life.”  -Chris Sax

Whether he is playing games like Apples to Apples with students, reading stories to the younger students, or helping the middle school students with their homework, Chris feels a powerful inspiration to volunteer at Youth Life.  Chris says, “I feel like a father figure for some students.”  When he overheard several students talking, he realized that although some students had great fathers, many YLLC students did not have a true male role model in their lives.  “Kids need more male figures in their lives, especially students living in inner city neighborhoods.”

The Youth Life family would like to give a warm thank you to Chris Sax for his many hours of volunteering each week at Youth Life.

Check-in to YLLC on Facebook places

Guests, students, teachers, volunteers and staff can now check-in on Facebook places at YLLC.  All five Nashville locations now offer a way to share with all your Facebook friends that you are at YLLC.  Although Facebook places has been around since last year, many have yet to try it.  Below are some general instructions for smart phones, one set for iPhones and the other for Blackberry phones.  In order to take the following steps, you must download the Facebook application to your smart phone.  Only the last two steps for both smart phones need to be followed each time you check-in, while the first few steps are to enable location services on your phone the first time you check-in.

Steps for iPhone users:

1. Go to “Settings” application and select “General”
2. Select “Location Services”
3. Make sure Facebook is turned “On”
4. Select “Places” on Facebook
5. Search for “YLLC West,” for example, and select “Check-In.”  Tag your friends with you.

Steps for Blackberry users:

1. Select “Options,” then “Advanced Options”
2. Select “GPS” and set to “Location On” or Select “Location Services” and set to “Location On”
3. Select “Places” on Facebook
4. Search for “YLLC Easley,” for example, and set “Check-In.”

 

 

 

If you forget these instructions, there’s no need to worry!  We have these instructions posted at our centers to make it easy for you to check-in.  We look forward to seeing all of our check-ins take place.

Youth Life Welcomes Karen Thomas as New Board Member

Youth Life Learning Centers welcomes Karen Thomas, program director at Emdeon, as a new addition to our Board.  Karen became a board member in January of this year.

Karen Thomas, New 2011 Board Member

“I was honored to be apart of something where each person takes great care in their stewardship for a reward that is far more precious than money,” Thomas says.

With fifteen years experience in healthcare, she has witnessed companies grow in service through a standardizing processes with measuring outcomes to achieve the best possible efficiency.  It is with this background that she will be able to contribute to Youth Life for its upmost growth.

Thomas received her B.A. from Vanderbilt University in pre-Med and her M.B.A. in healthcare management at University of Pheonix.  She enjoys traveling, trying new foods, animals and reading.  She is also finishing her scuba certification.

Thomas wants each YLLC student to realize his or her purpose and take advantage of the opportunities that will lead each to fulfill that purpose.