News 2004



	News From 2004 The Holidays at Yerwood Center Yerwood Center celebrated Stamford’s diversity this holiday season. All of Stamford’s children were able to receive gifts and participate in celebrations reflecting their family’s traditions. Thanksgiving Feast The holiday season began with a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Students from the Yerwood Scholars program and their friends and parents from the YMCA’s LEAD Academy and LEAD programs celebrated Thanksgiving with dinner and a program in the gym at the Yerwood Center. Students presented small talks on what they were thankful for. Christmas The Committee of Concerned Citizens of The United House of Prayer held their annual Christmas party on December 18^th. A traditional turkey dinner was served and Santa presented gifts to all the children. This year there was a record turn out and a wonderful time was had by all. Thanks go out to the Committee, the Regional Bar Association, the Darien Girl Scouts and all the volunteers that made this very special event possible. Kwanzaa The LEAD, LEAD Academy and Yerwood Scholars students once again collaborated for a wonderful Kwanza event. As part of Stamford’s week long celebration, the Yerwood Center hosted a dinner for Kujichagulia. This is the day of Kwanza that focuses on self determination. Students learned about Kwanza and participated in drumming and dancing with the help of Sounds of Afrika a local organization that provides African cultural programming. El Dia de los Tres Reyes The last event on our diverse holiday schedule was Three Kings Day. The Latino Foundation hosted this party for all of Stamford’s Hispanic children. The Three Kings day, the day the magi brought their gifts to the Christ child, is the traditional day to give gifts in Latin America. This is the fourth year that the Foundation has held a party for the Hispanic community but the first year we were honored to have it at the Yerwood Center. Hispanic Heritage Party at Yerwood Last Friday October 15th, Yerwood Scholars had a special party celebrating the Hispanic Heritage Month. With the participation and support of our Yerwood Scholars Parents, we enjoyed delicious food and spent good time. Here some pictures of our reunion.... Fall at Yerwood Yerwood Scholars After School Program L.E.A.D. Program Adult Computer Literacy (English & Spanish) Earn a Computer Program Navigating Stamford Public Schools The Parent Teacher Council of Stamford in conjunction with Stamford Public Schools, Stamford Public Education Foundation, and Stamford Achieves presents: Navigating Stamford Public Schools An educational forum to help parents make the most of their children's years in school October 16 (Saturday), 2004 8:45am until 12:30pm Rippowam Center The conference is free and includes coffee / light breakfast, keynote address by Stamford Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Sally Harrison, and three Breakout sessions. Parents may request sessions from a choice of 21 topics including school readiness at all levels, curriculum K-12, standardized testing, health issues, special education, and community involvement. Two sessions are offered specifically to parents who do not speak English; translation is available to Creole, Polish and Spanish for other sessions. Transportation and childcare are available by request. Click here to open the brochure of this event (Acrobat Reader document) NFTE at Yerwood The National Foundation For Teaching Entrepreneurship's mission is to teach entrepreneurship to low-income young people, ages 11 through 18, so they can become economically productive members of society by improving their academic, business, technology and life skills. During 3 weeks, our computer lab was attended for more than 10 high school students, who were learning business strategies and preparing marketing plans in their own ideas about different products they want to develop in the real world. KnowledgePoints Graduation Tuesday, June 22 2004 - Yerwood Scholars Room KnowledgePoints is an individualized tutoring system offered to our Yerwood Scholars in grades three through five. The program includes standardized pre and post testing and forty hours of tutoring in reading. Our students have shown significant improvements in their reading and vocabulary levels with the help of this program. Twenty-four students will be participating in the program over the summer. We will be expanding the number of students involved and adding math in the coming school year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ecommunitiesfirst The Yerwood Center in partnership with Wachovia Bank presents the “ecommunitiesfirst” program. This program offers a curriculum and educational materials to train adults in basic computer literacy and an introduction to the internet. We will also be offering Wachovia’s “Money Smart Program” that provides education in online banking, checking and mortgages. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Job Skills Workshop Spring 2004 The Job Skills Workshop is a six week program facilitated by corporate volunteers for High School Students who attend the LEAD Program. The Workshop topics include: Goal Setting, Job Search, Resume Preparation, and Mock Interviews. This spring, thirty-three ninth to twelfth grade students participated in the Job Skills Workshop. The workshop sessions, in addition to covering the above topics, also sought to foster a health competition among its participants. The challenge was along the line of the popular TV program called the “Apprentice” where the participants in this instance were competing for summer positions. The workshop participants were required to attend all sessions dressed with a shirt and tie. However, because some of the fellows did not own a tie we were able, through a connection with Hugo Boss, Inc, to secure ties for the fellows and shoulder bags for the ladies. The program was a great success with all of the participants securing positions. A special thank you to the volunteers and LEAD staff for their support of the students. The Volunteers were; Glenn Finley, Mia Schipani, Veronica Carter Rozier, and Ron Barnes. And Staff were; Rolita James, Nitika Murphy, and Trevor Williams. The LEAD program is run by the YMCA at the Yerwood Center as part of the YMCA - Yerwood Center alliance. Jazz at Yerwood Juneteenth Celebration Sunday, June 13, 2004 at 2 p.m. Yerwood Center 90 Fairfield Ave, Stamford CT 06902 Celebration Includes: Music by Terry’s All Star Band Fine Foods by UEI Youth Performances Silent Auction Cash Bar Tickets: $25 in advance, $30 at the door For Ticket orders: Call Yerwood Center 203-3272790 or Jeré C. Eaton 203-5611250 All proceeds will fund Yerwood Center programs Click Here for Flyer Pictures from "Jazz at Yerwood 2003" ------------------------------------------------------------- Earn a Computer Program Four of the students who received their computers and printers after they participated in the Earn a computer Program, in April 2004 at the Yerwood Center. ------------------------------------------------------------- Craft Fair Pictures Saturday May 1st. - Yerwood Center Gym Yerwood Center Annual Dinner Wednesday, May 5, 2004 Holiday Inn Select 700 Main Street, Stamford Reception and Silent Auction 6:00, Dinner 7:00 Charles Smith, Guest Speaker Former NBA Player, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist and honoring: Darwin and Velmarie Davis, Lifetime Award for Community Service John and Cecelia Darosa, Annual Award for Community Service Pablo Monegro, Yerwood Scholars Student of the Year Shaddia Johnson, YMCA LEAD Student of the Year Stamford YMCA, Partner of the Year Tickets: $45 in advance, $50 at the door Sponsorship Tables: Bronze - $500, Silver - $1000, Gold - $2500, Platinum - $5000 For Reservations and Ticket orders, download Ticket and Table Order Form To advertise in the Dinner Program, download Advertising Contract or Contact: Archie Elam, (203)-357-3509 or archie.elam@ge.com Cecelia Cricholow, (877)-430-9604 or Cecelia.crichlow@ge.com Click Here for Annual Dinner Flyer 2003 Summer Camp Photos of Volunteer Center tutors, UBS Operations Department Carnival, and Pitney Bowes Reading Program Luncheon February Vacation at Yerwood Center We had 20 students participating in our Yerwood Scholar Program. We graduated a new class for the Earn a Computer Program bringing the total of computers on to 716. Children from the neighborhood enjoyed open computer lab and Open gym every afternoon.