The Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha works with area youth to help benefit their development so they reach their full potential as they become productive, responsible adults. As a community partner to Gateway Technical College, its students have helped in that mission.
"We work with Gateway on a few different service learning opportunities for their students. Some students come in to work with teachers or with their own projects," says youth program coordinator Brianna Price.
"One particular student works with one of our kids who has behavioral issues, and that Gateway student is teaching him ways to self-regulate, which has created a lot of positive effects in this young boy’s life. He hasn’t been suspended from school in a long time."
Brianna says she values Gateway’s partnership.
"Gateway is one of the easiest colleges to work with," she says. "Their faculty are so communicative and bring us so many great students to work with. We love that."
That impact touches lives every single day, and it serves the Boys & Girls Club in a very real way.
"It's so helpful to have Gateway students here. My staff doesn’t have a lot of time to do one-on-one meetings with kids who have issues, so the Gateway students fill in those gaps for us here and they leave having gained a lot of real-world experience," says Brianna.
"I've also had service learning students help with tutoring, and that's so helpful. Gateway students come here having learned the most up-to-date practices for teaching subjects like math, and they’re able to teach these kids step-by-step."
Many have turned their service learning experience with the Boys & Girls Club into internships and jobs.
"We had one student who came to us through Gateway's service learning program and she turned that into an internship. We worked together, and she ended up loving it here. She worked with us until she graduated college. And that worked out really well."