Youth Dreams

Written by Mykel Chambers, Shionna McCarty, Jada Harris, Purnell Gray, Joi McCoughtry, Denera Brown, Maya Gasque, Deja Joseph, Tamara Lemon, and Blair Coleman

On October 30th, 2009 from 4-6pm we had a Youth Dreamers Halloween Party at the Stadium School that featured games, music, costumes, and a special teacher dance-off!

Planning
Before we had the party we had to plan it first. First we had to get permission from Mr. Ron to use the gym and have the party. Then we had to make and take flyers to pass out to the advisories. We also presented at the staff meeting to ask teachers to dance. Some of the Youth Dreamers taught the teachers to dance. We also had to sort through Halloween decorations so our Halloween party could be the best. We had to buy snacks and make a music play list for the party. Some of the Youth Dreamers went pavement pounding to get gift cards from local restaurants for the teachers.

Before the party started we had to put up decorations. Ms. Kristina ordered pizza, and everyone helped to set up tables and chairs. Some Youth Dreamers went to classrooms and sold tickets.

The Party!
During the big Youth Dreamers party we danced, ate, and had an R&B music selection thanks to Cierra. We also took pictures, sold pizza, chips, and Capri Suns to the students at the big jam. All of the students at the party enjoyed snacks, pizza was $1.00 and snacks and drinks cost .50. However, there wasn’t enough pizza for the students so we had to keep ordering more. We had a Halloween costume contest. Our first place winner was a student dressed as a homeless person. Last but not least, we had a teacher dance off. There were no winners, but they all did an excellent job at their silly dances. These dances were the Stanky Leg, the Swag Surf and the Jerk. Finally, the funniest dance of all was Mr. Roycroft dancing to Single Ladies.
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Written by Stephen Scott, Miriam Harris, and Keyani Kenny

BEFORE
To come up with this fundraiser, the high school Youth Dreamers met at the house (on milk crates) and started brainstorming. We broke into teams to come up with ideas. The idea of a “Text-a-thon” was pitched and we thought all the people who hate texting wouldn’t pay for it… so we decided to do the exact opposite and have a “Blackout.” We know adults would pay for us NOT to text! We planned on how it would work.

We decided that Youth Dreamers and their friends would participate and adults would bring food to support us. Phones and other electronics would be taken and replaced with FUNdamental activities. We would get sponsored by others for money. So, we made a flyer and a sponsor sheet, recruited friends to participate, started asking adults to sponsor us, emailed our supporters, and posted the information on our website. The following Youth Dreamers participated: Stephen Scott, Danielle Parham, Dominique Davis, Miriam Harris, Keyani Kenny, Deja Joseph, Chekana Reid, and Cierra Cary. Mark, Jamal, and Jazmine—friends of these Youth Dreamers—also participated.

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Report written by Chekana Reid, Keyani Kenny and Dominique Davis

The Youth Dreamers Live Out Loud Again Summer Program took place from June 29th to July 29th on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at The Stadium School. We had 14 students from grades 5 -9. We received funding from the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, Baltimore Housing’s Office of Community Services, and Youth Works. In photo: Summer program staff Miriam Harris (l), Dominique Davis (c) and volunteer Chekana Reid (r)]

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MICA’s Master’s in Community Arts’ Summer Institute held its final exhibition and celebration at the Youth Dreamers Youth Center on July 25 – a wonderful day of art and community. Following are messages sent by Cinder Hypki and Paula Phillips, faculty members the MACA program.

Check out some of our furniture ideas for the youth center!

Mark your calendars for July 25th from 11 to 3 as the YD’s host the Summer Celebration where all 6 sites of MICA programming come together for a cookout and fun. Artwork from all sites will be displayed in the house and at the clinic and we are hoping to put on "Razzle Dazzle 101" a performance out on the lawn of original and existing scenes by our drama group. All residents on Carswell Street will be invited as well as family and friends of youth from all six summer sites.

(Click image for larger version.)

One offering in this year’s summer program is an improv class, led by Dominique and Miriam. Recently, they held a "Dead Person Dinner Party." Trop and Keyani invented a murder mystery and a character for each member of the summer program.  After Dominique and Miriam taught the finer points of improv, each participant randomly selected a character, got a costume out of the prop box and walked to the Hakuna Matada Inn (aka 1430 Carswell Street!).

The old innkeeper Mr. Bobaxton (Dominique) greeted them, invited them into the pantry for refreshments and introductions before they went to their "rooms" to "freshen up" for dinner. Once they were all in their rooms, Dominique shrieked from the hideout and all the guests ran upstairs to find "him" dead. The rest was a beautiful, hysterical improvisational scene during which the participants tried to figure out who killed Mr. Bobaxton. All reported enjoying using the house although carpenter Tom probably wondered what was going on.

Recently Miriam, Dominique, Keyani and Ms Kristina drove to Solomon’s Island to present for the Maryland Writing Project-–22 teachers from the area. The youth led YD Jeopardy, and each spoke for 5 minutes on a topic about the YD’s. THEN they did “That was then…this is now,” showing videos tracking the progress of the house!

Report by: Jessica White and Miriam Harris
This summer, The Stadium School Youth Dreamers, Inc. hosted the Civic Leadership Institute for one day on July 10th. The Civic Leadership is a three week summer service-learning program for academically talented students in grades 10-12. Each Institute integrates challenging academic work, community service, hands on experience, guest speaking, and facilitated debates and discussions. The Institute takes place in two locations: John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and Northwestern University in Chicago.

Fifteen high school students from all across the country came and spent the day with The Youth Dreamers to learn about our service-learning project. The day was hosted by Keyani Kenny and Chekana Reid, with help from Jessica White. Continue Reading »

As we move into the center, we are looking for teenage and adult volunteers to teach a “passion” at the youth center. We have access to children of all ages, can provide a fabulous space and all materials and would love to put you on our community calendar. Just fill out the Workshop Proposal Application and email it back to us. We will set up a time to meet with you, review your plan and put you on our calendar.