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Trips for Kids and Western
Youth Network celebrate “Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day” on Saturday, Oct. 3rd
On Saturday, October 3rd the Trips for Kids: Western Youth
Network (WYN) chapter will host a youth mountain biking event for young riders,
ages 6 to 16. The ride is part of a nationwide celebration known as “Take a Kid
Mountain Biking Day,” supported by the International Mountain Bicycling
Association (IMBA).
Trips for Kids and WYN welcome all local riders who want to
have a fun day on their bikes. Here’s everything you need to know:
- Register in
advance by Thursday, October 1st.
- Be sure to bring
your mountain bike, a helmet, and close-toed shoes. Or, you can let us
know if you need to borrow a bicycle and helmet.
- Meet us at the
W. Kerr Scott Reservoir Dam at the Dark Mountain Trail Head in Wilkesboro,
NC.
- Start time is
11:00am
- Parents are
welcome to ride too!
- Waiver/ medical
form is required for all riders.
The Western Youth Network serves youth and families in the
High Country through after school programs, mentoring, and substance abuse
prevention. The IMBA Take a Kid Mountain
biking event will be held in conjunction with the Dark Mountain Challenge
Off-Road Endurance Festival. The purpose of both these events is to provide
the local community with healthy activities to promote physical fitness and
outdoor recreation. Both events will
take place at the W. Kerr Scott Reservoir Dam on the weekend of October 3rd,
2009.
IMBA's International Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day
celebrates the life of Jack Doub, an avid teenage mountain biker from North
Carolina who had a true passion for the sport from an early age all the way up to
the time he passed away in 2002. Event funding is provided by the Jack Doub Memorial
Endowment. Additional support comes from CLIF Kids, the National Park Service
and Smartwool.
Additional assistance for the celebration is provided by
Trips for Kids, an organization that has been helping disadvantaged kids discover
mountain biking since 1988. Trips for Kids chapters nationwide make a
difference in kids' lives by opening their world to mountain biking.
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WYN is proud to announce the introduction of a research based model program, “The Girls Circle," into its after school program
WYN staff has worked to address the needs of high risk adolescent
females for nearly 25 years, and consistently seeks out curricula and
resources to address the specific needs of young women. As a result of
this experience and research, WYN found The Girls Circle model program.
This program is a structured support group for girls that integrates
relational theory, resiliency practices, and skills training in a
specific format designed to increase positive connection, personal and
collective strengths, and competence in girls. It aims to counteract
social and interpersonal forces that impede girls’ growth and
development by promoting an emotionally safe setting and structure
within which girls can develop caring relationships and use authentic
voices.
The Girls Circle plans to meet these goals by offering
female-responsive, relational-cultural, protective factors and
promoting overall health, while shifting individual and community
behavior in participants.
Girls Circle will strive to increase the following areas in girls’
lives: attachment to school, self-efficiency, perceived body image,
communication of needs to adults, and positive peer interaction,
selection, and satisfaction. It will also seek to decrease alcohol use
and self-harming behavior.
The Girls Circle has been deemed a "promising approach," meaning it
displays a strong theoretical base and has been demonstrated to prevent
delinquency, and reduce risk factors (and enhance protective factors)
for delinquency, as applied in specific programs using limited research.
The Girls Circle will be facilitated by Angie Grimes, After School
Program Director, and will be held weekly for female participants at
the eastern after school site.
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Mentoring Update
WYN’s Mentoring Program is currently thriving, despite budget cuts. We
have made 5 new matches over the last month, bringing us to 38 matches, with serveral more to follow in the near future.
WYN’s Mentoring Program is also thrilled to have Jesse Scinto working
with the program. Jessie is an Appalachian State Masters of Social
Work field placement student, who will be working alongside Mentoring
Program Director, Angela McMann as she matches youth with positive
adult role models throughout the year.
Scinto will be providing support to McMann while completing her field
study placement, with an anticipated graduation in May 2011.
Scinto will bring a great dynamic to the program with her previous
experience in youth services at Camp La Jolla in California, various
after school and fitness instructing experience, and her general
passion for kids.
In the future, Scinto hopes to explore her passion for children and
work with them in some capacity, whether it be in social work, a
pediatric setting, or in a children's hospital.
New volunteer mentors are always welcome, especially this time of year.
If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please contact Angela
McMann at mcmanna@westernyouthnetwork.org
Join Us
Donate
Being
a young person is something that each and every one of us understands.
To help WYN help this generation of young people, we need your
assistance. To make a tax-deductible donation to WYN, visit our website
at www.westernyouthnetwork.org and use PayPal, or mail your check to:
155 WYN Way, Boone, NC 28607.
Goodsearch
If
you frequently conduct internet searches (most of us do), please
consider using GoodSearch. This search engine works just like Google,
and it pays WYN 1 penny for each search you conduct. Visit
www.goodsearch.com and type in "Western Youth Network" in the "Who do
you search for" box. These pennies add up quickly!
Mentor
Help
shape the life of a young person and enhance your own at the same time
by becoming a mentor. The commitment is only 2 hours a week and it
literally makes a lifetime of difference. Contact Angela McMann at
mcmanna@westernyouthnetwork.org to find our more.
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