At the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands, we love for kids to have fun. We love for kids to learn new things.  We especially love when they have fun and learn at the same time. We sighted another instance of educational fun last week during the video game creation pilot run by Westside Boys & Girls Club staff. Reneta Johnson, Westside BGC Technology Program Specialist, recruited 10 members from 9 to 13 years old for this very special program.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) launched the Game Tech program to appeal to members’ love of computer games and guide them as they design and build one of their own.  The Westside Boys &  Girls Club is one of a handful of Clubs in the BGCA movement to run a video game creation pilot program, Game Tech II.  In the pilot, members ages 9 to 13 learned about computer game design and animation. The program used Scratch, a free, open-source computer program developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), to introduce members to a new set of skills and experiences around technology.

In Game Tech I, members learned the fundamentals of Scratch – including animation basics and simple logic. In Game Tech II, they took this knowledge a step further by recreating a fully functional game and an animated story, using provided art and Scratch scripts. This will give members the foundation of knowledge and experience with problem solving that they will need to, if they choose, create their own original game or movie.

Westside BGC staff facilitated eight sessions to teach members how to build a fully functional game and animated story in Scratch. Five of the sessions were dedicated to building the example game Happy Squirrel, Super Avenger. Three sessions were focused on recreating the animated story Four Score and Seven Hoops Ago. Each session was designed to last roughly one hour. Staff adapted each lesson to adapt to members’ needs and abilities.  Members who completed all eight sessions were rewarded with a working video game and movie.

Westside BGC plans to integrate the video game and movie creation into regular Club technology programming. Providing another STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) educational opportunity helps members to build confidence in their abilities and further develop math and science skills. Exposure to science, technology, engineering, math, and problem solving better prepares members for post secondary education and careers. Which in turn better prepares them for life as educated, caring, healthy, and productive citizens.

Graphic for game created in GameTech II pilot is below.

Today’s world is one that presents all type of challenges for citizens as we weave through our financial systems. For many of our youth, they are navigating these waters without the help of the education system and for some without the guidance of family members. Can you imagine what it feels like to enter the “real world” without a working knowledge of checking and savings accounts, credit reports, interest rates, retirement savings and the stock market? Well, that is what a lot of kids encounter when they enter high school or maybe when they graduate or get their first job.

Rather than let our kids, the youth of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands (BGCM), face that reality without insight, we try to provide them with basic skills and financial literacy to enter the real world with knowledge. We work with our teenage population to provide information on basic banking, credit cards, credit reports, financial aid for college and the basics of the Stock Market. Our Money Matters programming is our launch pad for this training and we follow it up with college tours, information on how to apply for college financial assistance, and finally with information on stocks, bonds, mutual funds and retirement savings. All of this is done with the goal of helping our youth to achieve our mission of realizing their full potential as productive, responsible, healthy and caring citizens.

To make it more exciting, BGCM sponsors an annual Stock Market Challenge event. On November 11, 2010, 157 teens from our Clubs had the opportunity to “play the market” at our event with the winners taking home college scholarships. Check out the kids’ faces in the video below as they played the game, and see for yourself how making and investment in our youth is making an investment in our community and our future.

Laura Schabloske is the Chief Development Officer for Boys & Girls clubs of the Midlands, and serves as a contributing member of the BGCM Blog Team. She can be reached at lschabloske@bgcomaha.org.

Today’s post highlights the ongoing partnership between Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands and UPS through the Road Code, an educational program that helps develop safe and proper driving skills in Club teens. Led by Westside Teen/Tech Director, Nabil Molai, the Rode Code program has already influenced the driving habits and abilities of 154 teen members across all six Midlands Club, with room for growth over the coming year.

At the Boys & Girls Clubs, we understand the impact of technology on education. That’s why we have created dedicated learning centers in each of our units, complete with the latest computers, software and equipment, to help our members understand and stay competitive in an ever-changing technological landscape – bridging the digital divide as Fred talked about in the video.

Thanks to programs like MIRACLES^® from the Todd Wagner Foundation, and other core Boys & Girls Clubs programs like Club Tech, our members are able to stay at the forefront of technology – while having a great time doing it.

We at the Boys & Girls Clubs are very excited to announce the end of our summer session and the beginning of our Fall (school-year) programming period. Don’t think for a minute that all fun and games stop when school starts – just the opposite – our Fall program is designed to bring fun, laughter and confidence to the classroom.

We have found it very important to not “reinvent the wheel” when it comes to curriculum; rather we develop our tools and programs to work hand-in-hand with the Search Institute’s  40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents, an educational framework used by Omaha Public Schools (OPS), District 66 and Millard Public Schools – major school systems within the Omaha, NE metropolitan area.

The 40 Developmental Assets help children and young adults to grow up healthy, caring and responsible – attributes we as a youth-serving organization feel are vital for the growth of young people into caring adults and difference makers in our communities. Read below for a brief introduction to the first six assets identified by the Search Institute as “Support” Assets:

1. Family Support – Family life provides high levels of love and support.
2. Positive Family Communication – Young person and her or his parent(s) communicate positively, and young person is willing to seek advice and counsel from parents.
3. Other Adult Relationships – Young person receives support from three or more non-parent adults.
4. Caring Neighborhood – Young person experiences caring neighbors.
5. Caring School Climate – School provides a caring, encouraging environment.
6. Parent Involvement in Schooling – Parent(s) are actively involved in helping the child succeed in school.

Please check out the other 34 Developmental Assets that major school districts use to develop their curriculum when you have a free moment and try to brainstorm some of ways they may be incorporated at home and at play.

Copyright © 1997, 2007 by Search Institute. All rights reserved. This chart may be reproduced for educational, noncommercial use only (with this copyright line).

Education Spotlight is a regular series on the BGCM Blog that highlights important information and issues related to your kid’s education, extra-curricular activities and well-being at school.