dreamprogram.org The DREAM Program @DREAMprogram
The Village Mentoring Organization
Franklin Square DREAM Quarterly Report July-September 2015 Greetings from DREAM! After a fun and sun filled summer, kids and mentors alike have gone back to school. While they were sad to see summer end, they are all excited to start another year of school year DREAM! Here is a summary of Franklin Square DREAM happenings from the past quarter.
Highlights from the quarter include: • Summer Community Interns, Dana Heng, Noah Bender, and Mikayla Stark planned and implemented an exciting array of educational and enriching activities in Franklin Square this summer. • Two youth from Franklin Square attended Camp DREAM this summer! • Teens from throughout the state participated in the fifth annual College Road Trip to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington DC as well as the Time of Wonder Sailing Trip off the coast of Maine! • Saint Michael’s College mentors and Franklin Square mentees went back to school at the end of August and DREAM Fridays started on September 11th! • Franklin Square welcomed four new student co-chairs, Allie Campbell, Erin Connor, Victoria Brown, and JilL Kahn to organize and run programming this year. • The co-chairs spent the first few weeks of the semester recruiting and accepted 9 new student mentors! Summer Activities • Rising Empire, a dance group based out of Franklin Square, performed at Speaking Volumes! • Summer Community Interns took the youth on various hikes and nature walks, including a trip to Mount Philo. • Youth went swimming in Lake Champlain many times! • Summer Community Interns spent countless hours playing with Franklin Square youth in the community doing arts & crafts as well as playing outdoor games! • Franklin Square youth went blueberry picking at the Charlotte Berry Farm! • Summer Community Interns held a movie night with Franklin Square youth! • Youth took a trip to Leddy Park! • Teens attended a movie night and ate pizza.
Office: 30 Community Drive, South Burlington, VT | Mail: P.O. Box 361, Winooski, VT 05404 │ (802) 338-8979 | info@dreamprogram.org
Weekly Programming • After a long summer apart, mentors and mentees were excited to be reunited! For the first DREAM Friday, mentors took their mentees to Chapin Orchards to pick apples! • Mentees spent one on one time with their mentors on campus. • Mentors took mentees to North Beach for an afternoon full of sun, sand, and games. New mentors attended programming for the first time and were able to get to know their potential mentee matches! Special Events for Children and Mentors: • For the fourth year in a row, DREAM staff took several teens to Maine for a week of living on a sailboat and learning the ropes (pun intended) of sailing in the ocean. Captain John Reid once again manned the helm, and we are grateful for his generosity in spearheading these trips and providing the boat and instruction, but most of all opening his heart to DREAMers and exhibiting an extreme degree of patience! Some of the highlights of the trips were giving teens the opportunity to drive and steer the boat, trying new foods prepared in unique ways in the ship’s small galley, using a bathroom on a boat (a very interesting experience to be sure), playing BananaGrams (word game), learning sailing terminology, swimming, exploring and visiting barrier islands, and living five days away from cell phones and other technologies, which is so important for these formative experiences to have their greatest impact. Most of all, each sailing session provides the opportunity for teens to learn and challenge themselves in many ways they never thought possible! • This quarter eight Vermont teens joined DREAM teens from Boston and Vermont on a College Road Trip adventure to Washington, DC. In addition to college tours, the group also went to the movies, an aquarium, sightseeing, and so much more. A highlight of the trip was a visit to Southern Vermont College, where they were allowed to spend the night in the dorms to better experience college life! Capacity Building and Fundraising: • This summer our development team raised $53,448 through our summer appeal aimed at supporting our summer programs. This amount exceeded our $50,000 goal and greatly exceeded the amount we’ve raised in the past! Camp: • This summer we had 72 campers over the course of 5 weeks, hailing from all corners of Vermont as well as 6 kids and 4 adults who made the trek all the way from Boston! For 30 of the total campers, it was their first time at Camp DREAM, and we hope they come back next year! Highlights of the activities we did: hiking,
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swimming, canoeing, gardening, volunteering at a local farm, nutrition education, environmental education activities, discussions about their futures, cooking, eating delicious meals, sleeping en plein air, singing, games, performing in a talent show, and so much more!!! We are also thankful for the 11 teens who served as Counselors-in-Training this summer! This program gives DREAM teens an opportunity to spend an extra week at camp with elevated responsibilities. CITs lead activities and help with the younger campers, and they earn some money in the process! Many thanks to our volunteers and Guest Rock Stars! These people took a day or a week off from their busy lives to share their skills and stories at Camp DREAM. They are Paul Espina, Oliver Smith, Erin Knight, and Sophie Halpin.
Office: • This quarter we welcomed three new AmeriCorps members to our Vermont program team. Kelsea Moulton, Julia Dillavou, and Tiffany Trowbridge-Bernard join the team as Program Empowerment Directors (PEDs). All three members come to DREAM with a wealth of experience and DREAM is thrilled to have them on board!
Thank you for your ongoing support of DREAM. If you would like additional or more detailed information, please contact me by email or by phone. You can always look back at past reports or other programs’ reports by going to: http://dreamprogram.org/mentoring/vermont/local-program-reports.
DREAM big, Julia Dillavou VYT Americorps VISTA Program Empowerment Director Julia@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8979