The Wicked Weird Week (with a Boston accent)

Hey Guys!

So as my title states, this past week was the weirdest one yet. Thanks to the "snowmaggedon" that Frank so cleverly came up with, we were barely at the Y. The only days we spent in Hyde Park were Monday and Friday.

Monday, Aubrey and I ran the teen center for the second week. It was going smoothly until 5:50, ten minutes before we were supposed to leave, a teen came in seeking homework help. We ended up staying until nearly 7 oclock helping him with his work. Although we felt obliged to help him, Aubrey and I have both decided that setting clear rules about Mondays is in our best interest. That is one of our goals for this week.

Tuesday was spent in the office, where most of our time was used for venting our frustrations (sorry Meg!). However, once we were all able to speak about the different issues we were facing, the four of us felt alot better about going back to our respective Y's. We learned that patience is in fact a virtue and that in due time things will work themselves out. Fingers crossed...

The rest of the week was a huge success for Aubrey and I. On Thursday we got to sit down with a principal of a near by middle school and discuss the issues facing teens in Hyde Park. We are attempting to meet with as many principals and program coordinators dealing with middle school youth in the area. Our goal is to compose a collective list of problems that these kids are facing and create curriculum or programs that can be facilitated to help them. The principal we met with LOVED the idea. He was eager to create a partnership with the YMCA to accommodate his 6th grade students this fall. We are currently in the process of figuring out all of the details. We are also setting up more meetings for this week.

Friday was another exciting day in Hyde Park. We sat in on a weekly staff meeting and presented our ideas to everyone. Every body was extremely excited about the dodgeball tournament that Aubrey came up with. They feel like its a great way to market to the surrounding community. Given their support, we are really excited about moving forward and seeing what we can accomplish here in Hyde Park.

Goals for the week:
1. set up more meetings with principals and community program managers
2. choose SIS curriculum to facilitate during Tween Week
3. finalize march/April teen schedule
4. create rules for Teen Center on Mondays