The Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula
BGCP Home
About BGCP
BGCP Programs
BGCP Club Kids
BGCP What's New
BGCP Volunteer
BGCP Donate
BGCP Contact Us

 

Recent Events

Be a Kid for a Night - May 1, 2010

May 1, 2010 - Over 300 guests packed into the Boys & Girls Club in East Palo Alto Saturday night to spending the evening playing like children.

Their behavior was truly appropriate for the Club's 8th annual Be a Kid for a Night event. Throughout the evening guests participated in games, sports, and educational activities like Jeopardy, video games, a climbing wall, and Karaoke where guests recorded their own songs and left with a personalized CD.

Dinner commenced with a warm welcome by 2009 Youths of the Year, Alex Perez and Tyrica Cisco, who served as the evening's emcee. Guests were treated to inspiring performances and music videos by Club members. Following dinner, Club Executive Director Peter Fortenbaugh spoke to guests about how they can "Be the Difference" - the theme for the evening.

Below are some memorable moments from the event. The Club is enormously grateful to event co-chairs, Anita & Dave Shrigley and Tracy Koon, event sponsors, and all the Club's staff and youth that helped to make this year's Be a Kid for a Night the best ever.

 

Thank you to our Corporate Sponsors!

Girl's Day - March 20, 2010

On Saturday, March 20 th , the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula hosted our fifth annual Girl's Day at the Mervin G. Morris Clubhouse in Redwood City! This was an amazing day consisting of 70 female volunteers - including professionals from a wide range of industries and college students– who were paired with one female club member in 7 th through 9 th grade. T he girls and their mentors spent the whole day together attending activities and workshops and hearing great performances and speakers.

The girls were fortunate to start the day with a performance by four high school club members, who sang an original song called “Proud to be a Woman” and heard an encouraging speech from Dr. Maria Ochoa, a professor at San Jose State University and published author. Over lunch, the girls and mentors enjoyed a performance by HYDEF Dance Crew and everyone got to participate when they gave an interactive dance lesson.

The day concluded with a keynote address by Cupcake Brown, who overcame tremendous obstacles in life to become an attorney at one of the nation's largest law firms and a best-selling author. “I was excited to meet someone who has made it despite countless hardships,” said Clarisa, one of the event's emcees. “She overcame everything that was thrown at her and is definitely a role model for me.”

Throughout the day, the girls and their mentors then attended three workshops: “For the Love of Mysef,” on discovering the type of person you want to be; “The Real World – Peninsula,” on how your actions and words are perceived by those around you; and “Whose Life is it Anyway?,” on how to take charge of your life so that you can continue to remain true to yourself. These workshops allowed the girls and their mentors to interact and learn from each other while also asking each participant, “Who do you want to be?” The event emcee, Clarisa, said, “I really enjoyed learning from other girls, the staff and the mentors. During the workshops, a lot of the girls were sharing personal experiences that sparked more conversation. I can definitely say I saw friendships built right in front of me.”

It was a tremendous day that was enjoyed by not only the girls, but the mentors as well. “The speakers were terrific and the entertainment was a kick! I was impressed that both the girls and the mentors were really engaged,” mentor Maureen O'Donnell stated. “This event has inspired me to get more involved with the Boys & Girls Clubs. I can't wait for next year's event!”

Thank you to our sponsors who shared in our dream of creating a special day for girls to learn, grow and be inspired. Their generosity and compassion for the community made this event possible!




2009 Scholar of the Year

December 9-During the third week of November, Center for a New Generation (CNG) hosted Scholar of the Year celebrations at our Hoover, James Flood, Belle Haven, and East Palo Alto Academy school sites. Each site invited five finalists who had already written and revised six personal essays to spend the evening interviewing with a panel of judges and giving a speech to an audience of family members, school and CNG staff members, and other CNG supporters.

We heard 17 impressively introspective and evocative speeches during these events. Many of these depicted personal struggles to overcome such challenges as serious medical difficulties, placement in special needs classes, making one's way toward college and a career as an undocumented person, parent deportation, and family financial strain. Other speeches focused on personal traits—such as humor and involvement—that have helped the finalist thrive despite life's stresses, while still others ruminated on the way things are in our society as compared to the way things should be.

The maturity of the speeches left attendees each night thoroughly moved. The judges found selecting a Scholar of the Year representative for each site difficult, but they and the staff were proud of their choices:

Erica Soto for Hoover Community School

Anthony Johnson for James Flood Magnet School

Alejandro Verduzco for Belle Haven Community School

Rosamia Morales for East Palo Alto Academy

On December 9, these finalists came together for the Scholar of the Year finals. Each site's representative again was interviewed by a panel of judges and presented his or her speech to an audience of supporters. Though the judges were challenged with the difficult task of choosing only one student to award this honor, they proudly presented the 2009 Scholar of the Year:

Anthony Johnson

 
Get News & Notes:
First Name: Last Name: Email: ....


Home | About BGCP | Programs | Club Kids | What's New | Volunteer | Donate | Outlook Web Access | Contact Us
Privacy Policy


The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula (BGCP) is a
tax-exempt 501(C)3 non-profit organization
Our tax ID number is 94-1552134.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America
WWW.BGCA.ORG

We gratefully acknowledge for providing our firewalls

e-mail:Webmaster@bgcp.org