October FYI Newsletter
Program Information and Hours: During the school year the Youth Center is a safe and secure drop-in program; you can relax with friends, play ping-pong or pool, watch TV, read and do homework, play PS4 games, and utilize the large computer lab. Daily hours throughout the school year are: Monday – Friday, 2:00pm – 7:00pm. During the summer we host our annual Summer Camp during the hours of 8:00am-5:30pm. The Youth Center is closed on Saturday & Sunday.
Director’s Message: As I was scrolling through twitter this morning, I started to notice something truly amazing. I was noticing all the incredible and amazing things teachers are doing to connect with their students and I want to give all of you a huge air high five (because of social distancing of course) because of how you are overcoming the challenges of education this year. You truly are a remarkable group of professionals and leaders and I love seeing all the innovative and creative ways you are overcoming the obstacles of this school year! Here at the youth center, we are slowly bringing back programs for students. Our Student Advisory Council has begun meeting again weekly via a hybrid style for the students that are physically here at the center and those at home can attend via zoom, we have begun our student to community garden project along with Mr. Medearis and his i3 students and we are very close to be able to plant vegetables and being able to donate those to Food and Nutrition Services (Huge Thank You to Angie Bush for helping us with that project), SWAT has begun meeting and planning events including “not a lab rat” day on October 16 and red ribbon week October 19 - 23, and SAC and SWAT are working with the Flagler Youth Coalition and Flagler Sheriff’s PAL to provide two trunk or treat events for Flagler Youth on October 6th at Rymfire from 6 - 9 pm and October 16 from 5-8 pm at the Hidden Trails Community Center, just look for the Flagler Education Foundation’s Connect Bus!
Road to Success Program: RTS has started its 8th year and we have increased our student enrollments to 50 youth per year. We also have increased our teachers’ hours, allowing them to provide students with one-on-one tutoring and job coaching. RTS has reached 236 GEDs to-date, with 29 students obtaining honors. This month students obtained their Food Handlers Certificates and had presentations from FTC and students worked on their resumes and interviewing skills. We continue to keep the classes small with sizes around 5 to 6 students per teacher. In October, we are having a series of mock interviews set up with local businesses, Habitat for Humanity, Flagler’s Youth Center, Gioia Sails South and Fresh Prints, to interview students for our paid internships. Students will also be completing their Graduation pictures and have a presentation from Domestic Abuse Council. The teachers and students will also be taking a field trip to Daytona’s Museum of Science.
If you have any questions about enrolling into the RTS Youth Program or would like to partner with our Paid Internship program, please contact us at 386.437.8279. Willardb@flaglerschools.com , Brian Willard, Program Manager.