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LEARNING, GROWING AND THRIVING

Y-ASPIRE NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 2016

WELCOME (BACK) TO Y-ASPIRE

We hope your school year is off to a great start—whether you’re a parent,

caregiver, leader of one of our partner schools, or a student. We’re delighted

to have you as part of our Meeting Waters YMCA community.

We put the word “BACK” in the title of this article because for more than 80% of our Y-ASPIRE participants and families this is at least your second year with us. For many, it is your fourth, fifth or sixth. And, many of you are just coming off of a summer at our Y Day Camp—again, for another

summer.

A child who attends Y-ASPIRE five days a week, including full days on

vacations, holidays, etc., and who comes to our Y Day Camp for most of the nine weeks will have spent nearly as many hours in our programs as they have in school! Just like the educators in our host schools, we take this responsibility very seriously.

Of course, even if your child is just with us for the

minimum six hours a week, during the school year, we are equally committed to

our cause of strengthening the foundations of community through youth development, healthy living, social responsibility and family strengthening.

We’re looking forward to our 19th year of Y-ASPIRE and

we’re grateful to have you as part of our Y community.

This is the first of ten monthly newsletters we’ll produce throughout the

school year. Each will shine the spotlight on an aspect of our Y-ASPIRE program—foundational principles, curricula, family strengthening, staff, etc. We welcome your feedback and input on topics we can focus on in future editions of our Y-ASPIRE newsletter.

Photo: Most of our staff leaders for Y-ASPIRE 2016-17. Despite three new Site Directors, this staff has a combined 98 years experience at Y-ASPIRE.

A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR Y-ASPIRE PARTICIPANTS, PARENTS, SUPPORTERS, AND STAFF

Y-ASPIRE NEWS

REGISTRATION FOR Y DAY CAMP This past summer, several long-time Y-ASPIRE and Y Day Camp

parents found that when they

went to register their child(ren) for camp, we were already full with waiting lists. To help prevent our “regulars” from getting closed out again, we have already opened enrollment for Y Day Camp 2017. You can reserve your

child’s sessions with just a one-time $25 administrative fee and a $25 deposit per session ($10 if you have a Child Care Financial Assistance certificate for 100%). More information and online

registration is available at our website—

www.meetingwatersymca.org.

ABSENCES A friendly reminder to please call your site’s cell phone any time

your child will not be attending Y-ASPIRE. If you have not received your Site Director’s business card, please ask her for one. We also encourage you to plug that number into your cell phone and add it to your rolodex at work.

Thanks!

RELEASE AND/OR RETURN With many schools offering other afterschool enrichment activities, we want to remind you to ask your Site Director for a “Release,” “Return” or “Release and Return”

form if your child will be arriving late to Y-ASPIRE, leaving early, or leaving after Y-ASPIRE has started but returning after the other activity. We want to be properly prepared to manage your child’s comings and goings safely.

MEETING WATERS YMCA

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BUILDING OUR Y-ASPIRE

COMMUNITY

This month, many Y-ASPIRE activities will focus on building a sense of

community amongst the children, staff and families. Our staff will facilitate

lots of “get-to-know-you” activities that help children discover both what

they have in common with one another and what makes each person

unique. Parents will take part in similar activities at the first Family

Connection Event of the 2016-17 school year.

The participants and staff will also co-create a set of expectations they have

for one another and the group. While we have some fundamental rules to

ensure physical and emotional safety, over the 18 years of Y-ASPIRE we’ve

found that having the children share what they feel will make the program

fun for all (as well as some things that could get in the way of that) ensures

a higher level of accountability for individual and group behavior. Our staff

then refers to the agreement to point out when they’ve done an outstanding

job acting on what they said was important, as well as when there are

challenges within the group that deserve reflection and discussion.

Photos: Participants at Y-ASPIRE at Dummerston School recently used the

Big Picture Deck as a “get-to-know you” activity; Adrianna from Y-ASPIRE at

Putney Central School shows us her “All About Me Tree”; a photo from our

archives—participants from Y-ASPIRE at Green Street School in 1999

holding up their group behavioral contract.

OTHER MWYMCA NEWS

BEST. SUMMER. EVER.

Y’s across the country used this

tagline to promote their summer

camps. We don’t think it was an

overstatement in the case of the

more than 200 area youth who

attended between one and nine

sessions of our Y Day Camp this

summer. This was our 52nd

consecutive summer providing

fun, hands-on learning experienc-

es that build skills, friendships

and memories. Enrollment is

already open for the Summer of

2017. For more information and

online enrollment, please visit our

website: meetingwatersymca.org

SHARING OUR HEPA POLICIES

AND PRACTICES WITH OTHER

CHILD CARE AND AFTER-

SCHOOL PROGRAMS

In 2015, Y-USA, our national

resource center, selected us as

one of 18 Ys in the country to be

recognized as HEPA Champions

for our Healthy Eating and

Physical Activity policies and

practices at Y-ASPIRE. Last year,

we led webinars and wrote blogs

to help the other 2,700 Ys in

America make improvements in

HEPA. Now, thanks to a grant

from the Holt Fund, we’ll be

leading workshops for other child

care and afterschool programs in

the region over the next year.

With this, several hundred more

children will develop healthy life-

style skills by receiving consistent

support to eat healthy and be

physically active.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

A reminder that we offer

scholarships for Y-ASPIRE and Y

Day Camp. Visit our website,

email us, or give us a call for

more information about financial

assistance options.

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