Do you want your child to have memories that last a lifetime? How about knowing that your children will be supervised in positive activities all summer long that focus on fun, learning, leadership, physical activity, community service and social development? How about knowing that your children will be taken care of by staff thoroughly trained in CPR/First Aid, special needs, activity planning and implementation, and character development? The YMCA Holton Youth Center, located at 510 East Burleigh Street, is unique not only to the Riverwest community but unique to the YMCA as well. The Holton Youth Center focuses on providing youth/teen programming for ages 5-17 years old. Where most YMCAs offer activities for adults, families and youth, the Holton Youth Center specializes in leadership development, education, community service, athletics, social development, and character development of the youth/teens in our neighborhood. The summer months at the Holton Youth Center are extremely busy and jam-packed with great activities and themes for youth/teens. All of our Summer Day Camp Programs run from Monday, June 10, through Friday, August 16. Our Day Camp specializes in the following age groups: Kiddie Camp (Age 5-6), Summer Adventure Camp (Age 7-9), High Adventure Camp (Age 10-12) and Summer Sports Camp (Age 7-12). Kiddie Camp is an introductory experience for preschoolers geared specifically to their developmental needs and interests. Summer Adventure Camp offers a variety of adventure activities including but not limited to group games, sports, swimming, field trips and outdoor excitement. High Adventure Camp is a challenging highly active program based on leadership, team building, and “cool stuff” for this age group. Day-long adventure trips to acclimate these youth to other parts of Wisconsin is a central part of this camp. Summer Sports Camps allows children the opportunity to develop specific skills and techniques while learning the values of sportsmanship and team play. This summer’s sports camps include basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, and football. All of day camps have a weekly fee: $60.00 for YMCA Members and $70.00 for community participants. For your child to become a member at the YMCA Holton Youth Center, you need to purchase a $5.00 Youth City Fun Card that gives your child a membership for an entire year. Scholarships are available to anyone who may need one. W2 participants pay no fee for day camp. For teens (Age 13-17), there are two specific program opportunities for day programming (8:30 AM –5 PM, Monday through Friday). Teen Adventure Camp allows teens to plan their weekly schedules by incorporating the following components each week: leadership/team building, community service, fundraising, and two social field trips. This camp also has scheduled workshops that will focus on job readiness skills, college visits and job shadowing. The cost of this program is $20.00 a week. Youth Volunteer Corps is a community service program that allows teens to volunteer three days a week, fundraise and conduct leadership/teambuilding activities every week. As much as possible teens will plan their community service sites as well as the other components. This program is targeted for teens who have a general interest in volunteer work, have court ordered community service or restitution and/or have hours to complete for high school graduation.Youth Volunteer Corps will be collaborating with the West Suburban YMCA for the entire duration of the summer. This program is free. However, the fun and games do not end for teens when Teen Camp or Youth Volunteer Corps end for the day. The YMCA Holton Youth Center is open for youth/teens (ages 11-17) from 3-9pm Monday through Friday. Our facility participates in the MPS Summer Stars Program and always has various field trips planned in addition to our nightly Open Recreation and Open Gym activities. The YMCA Holton Youth Center is open on weekends for our regular programs- Saturdays from 8am-9pm and Sundays from 1-5pm. If you have any questions about the YMCA Holton Youth Center, any of our programs or would like to sign your child up for one of our Day Camp Programs, please call (414) 264-9622 and ask for Scott or Shelly. Riverwest Currents – Volume 1 – Issue 4 – May 2002