Failing to prepare is preparing to fail-Benjamin Franklin. I first heard this quotation during a training session for program coordinators at the Boys and Girls Club. The training sessions as well as most of my time this week was spent preparing for the beginning of the summer session of the Boys and Girls Club of Columbus! The training session included clubs from all across Ohio and the Midwest! Starting off my internship with training was extremely helpful; it gave me a much better idea of the work I will be doing this summer as well as the mission of the entire organization.

The training sessions I attended focused on high-yield activities, the 5 key principles of the organization, child safety, and building resilience in youth! I appreciated all of the sessions, but the high-yield activities session resonated with me for several reasons. This will be the first time I work with children of all age groups (I usually work with ages 14-18 in my previous employment and volunteer experiences). The high-yield activities session gave us several ideas for games and activities that would not only be fun, but they would engage students’ bodies and minds.

We constantly discussed ways to improve typical games to encourage students to think critically and outside the box. One example is a typical game of tag. Students can play tag, but everytime they get out they have to answer a trivia question or solve a math problem. This allows students to have a great experience and exercise their minds at the same time. This philosophy is at the core of the summer program I will be working with this summer, the “Summer Brain Gain!”

This program strives to prevent the typical summer learning loss of knowledge that occurs in children during the summer months. The program includes games, activities, modules, art projects, and books to not just maintain reading and math skills but to actually improve them! This week I have been preparing the materials necessary to make the program successful! I have also watched several webinars to familiarize myself with the program. I will also be coordinating the evaluation and assessment aspects of the Summer Brain Gain Program. It is important to track student’s success to see if the program continues to reach it’s goals. As most of you know I am a policy nerd and this is right up my alley! I am really excited for this summer and can’t wait to see where it takes me! If you want more information I encourage you to watch this video which gives a perfect explanation of what I will be doing this summer!