City of Scottsdale Community Notices Virginia G. Piper Boys & Girls Club Provides Kids with a Constant in Uncertain Times How to Become a Master Gardener

Virginia G. Piper Boys & Girls Club Provides Kids with a Constant in Uncertain Times

If you were to stand at the door of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale Virginia G. Piper Branch, you’d hear this over and over again on any given day: “Mom, why are you picking me up so early?”

The Club has been a part of the Scottsdale Ranch community for 29 years, and in that time, there has never been a year quite like this one. But the one thing that hasn’t changed is kids’ love for the Club.

With the delay of in-person learning for Arizona schools, kids are at the Piper Branch every day on Zoom calls with teachers and working through math assignments with the help of youth development staff.

The job of Club staff has grown to encompass managing video calls, technical support, communicating with teachers and parents about assignments, and organizing login information. This is in addition to the sanitizing of high-touch surfaces, frequent handwashing, and reminders about social distancing. But the Club is still the Club.

Once the school day is over, Club members are still getting quality STEM and art programs, fitness time in the gym, and supportive relationships with youth development professionals that are the core of the Club’s mission.

While kids are being increasingly confronted with challenges that even adults struggle to face, the Club remains a place where kids get to be kids. It’s where they get to explore, create, and develop. It’s where they build lifelong friendships and receive encouragement to dream big.

How to Become a Master Gardener

Have a green thumb? Enjoy sharing what you know about plants and gardening? Or, want to learn? Become a Master Gardener through the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension program.

There are more than 400 Master Gardener volunteers in Maricopa County helping residents grow better gardens and design landscapes sustainable in our unique desert environment. You’ll learn from local horticulture and industry professionals the fundamentals including tree and shrub pruning, composting, pest management and more.

Who Should Apply to be a Maricopa County Master Gardener Volunteer?

If you have an interest in environmentally responsible landscaping and gardening in the low desert and want to teach others in the community the skills you learn through the program, If you stand at the door of the Club today, many things look different. There’s curbside check-in, and everyone is wearing masks, but the sounds heard are the same as they have been every year the Club has been open.

You will still hear, “Mom, why are you picking me up so early?”

Learn more about Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale and the Virginia G. Piper Branch or register your child at www. bgcs.org.

then you would be a good candidate for the Master Gardener program.

2021 Spring Master Gardener Volunteer training classes will be online and begin the week of January 11, 2021 for 17 consecutive weeks and ending the week of May 3, 2021. The class is $279.00 which includes books and materials. Applications for the 2021 course are being accepted after September 1, 2020. For more information or to apply go to https://extension.arizona.edu/ maricopa-county-master-gardener-training or contact Rebecca Senior at rsenior@arizona.edu.