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!

YLLC students take on learning projects in celebration of Black History Month

During Black History Month, Youth Life students, most of whom are African-American, were eager to learn about their history.  The different centers set up various events throughout the month that they would like to share with Youth Life supporters.

• History of Hip-Hop at Belmont University was a blast last night, as forty YLLC students were in attendance.  The event included freestyle cypher, “A7” on the wheels of steel, graffiti designs, b-boy showcase, a performance by the Children of 18th Avenue Family Enrichment Center, and more.
• YLLC-Kirkpatrick took a field trip to meet up with YLLC-Memphis.  Together, the two groups went on a field trip to The National Civil Rights Museum, located at the Lorraine Motel and the assassination site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• YLLC-Riverchase teen students collaborated to create one poster board of important, historical and modern African-American figures including Lonnie Johnson, the inventor of the Super Soaker!
• The older students at YLLC-Easley were given options to either (a) do a personal outline of their family history, (b) do a timeline of the Civil Rights Movement, or (c) do a biography on a famous, historical African-American figure
• At YLLC-West the 2nd through 4th grade class did collages on a subject of their choosing.  Below is a picture of Diana Ochoa, who chose to do her project on The Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of a bus.  Today, Barack Obama is the first African-American to hold the title of President of the United States of America.  We hope YLLC students not only learned about figures from the past and African-American history, but we also want them to know that even in their at-risk communities, they have the same potential as these role models if they stay focused, study hard and stay in school.

To see  our calendar for Black History Month, visit the events page at www.yllc.org.

Visit our Facebook page to see more pictures from how we celebrated Black History Month.

Alyssa Braxton sees the talents and abilities of YLLC students

Alyssa Braxton, a Masters of Education in Child Studies student at Vanderbilt University and a native to Collierville, Tennessee, has been volunteering at YLLC-Kirkpatrick since October 2011.  After hearing the need for volunteers through Bethel World Outreach Center, she gave Youth Life a try.

An artistic mind, Alyssa brings some of her loves–for drawing, painting, and salsa and swing dancing– to YLLC.  She even taught the students how to draw a three-dimensional room!  Alyssa was surprised how many of the students shared much of her drawing talent!  Now, two particular students regularly ask for her to help them to draw different things.

“I love having the opportunity to teach what I know… I get inspired when I see talents and abilities that these kids have. I love their personalities and how they view life. Each one of them is unique and special and has so much to bring to the world.  I love being a part of their lives,” says Alyssa.

Volunteering at Youth Life can also be filled with laughter.  Alyssa laughs when she thinks about a six-year-old YLLC student who is always jumping up and grabbing volunteers by the neck.  One afternoon at the center, she noticed him quietly following another volunteer’s every move on his hands and knees.  Right as he jumped toward the volunteer, Alyssa swung in to pick him up in mid-air!  The other volunteer kept walking, completely oblivious that the six-year-old almost attacked her.

We look forward to seeing the many more young lives touched and inspired by her special gift for the arts and teaching in the years to come.