Honoring The Legacy of Mentorship
It's hard to overestimate how much a mentor can impact
a child's life. Through guidance and a simple unwavering
belief in young people, mentors can provide the guidance
so many young people like Stewart need. In fact, a recent
study showed that among Boys & Girls Clubs alumni,
around two-thirds remember a specific staff member who
made a positive impact on their lives.
With nearly 4 million school-aged kids in more than 4,100
Clubs across the country, Boys & Girls Clubs of
America's vision is that through providing a safe place for
kids to go during out-of-school hours, all its members will
graduate from high school with a plan for the future that is
built on good character, citizenship, leadership skills,
academic success and a healthy lifestyle.
Today, it is estimated that one in every 16 Americans is a
Boys & Girls Clubs alum. This has created a network of
successful community leaders and professionals in every
field, from lawyers and doctors to engineers, artists and
entrepreneurs.
In an effort to draw on the collective strength of this large
network of alumni, Boys & Girls Clubs' Alumni & Friends
Club has been established in order to give former
members an opportunity to reconnect, work together and
give back to kids and families in need.
It is estimated that there are more than 11 million kids in
the United States who have no place to go after school.
These kids lack simple, yet important things like safety
and the guidance a mentor can provide. In response,
thousands of alumni have taken the opportunity to help
make a change by joining the Alumni & Friends Club. The
goal of this alumni network is to keep former members
connected and give them a way to foster hope and
opportunity in a new generation.
(BPT) - Growing up in Florida, Whitney Stewart never thought at
To join your fellow Club alumni, visit www.bgcalum.org
any point in her life she would climb a mountain. That changed
when she was 13 and took a trip with her local Boys & Girls Club and learn how you too can impact a kid's life forever.
to Colorado. At first she thought the mountains were just there to
look upon, but then one of her Club staff members informed her
she would be climbing one of those mountains.
"I was thinking, I'm a Florida girl, I don't do mountains," Stewart
recalls.
Hours later, she was at the summit where she recalls a staff
member telling her, "Today you climbed a mountain, if you can
do that you can do anything."
"That was said to me at one of my lowest points," Stewart
notes, "and I really took that to heart."
Through the direction given to her by her Boys & Girls Club
mentors, Stewart became a leader in both her school and
community. Currently enrolled as a freshman at University of
Pennsylvania, Stewart was recently given the honor of being
named Boys & Girls Clubs of America's 2015-16 National Youth
of the Year.
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