group of teens
from Boys & Girls Clubs of
Yellowstone County, Mont., and Boys &
Girls Club of Pomona Valley,
Calif., traveled more than 2,000
miles for an exciting surprise
reunion with friends from the
Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay
to release a short documentary
celebrating diversity. As a
Youth for
Unity diversity
project, the Club members shared
a team-building experience
almost one year
ago in Yellowstone National
Park.
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Boys & Girls Club
members from three
different Clubs
released a short
documentary
celebrating
diversity and their
own team-building
experiences.
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The reunion weekend kicked off
with a release party for the
movie which was created during
their trip last summer.
Tampa
Bay teens Amari Bennett, Alissa
Peluyera, Devin Oliver, Tyler
Placeres and Andre Toplyn
thought they were on their own
to reveal the movie in front of
more than 100 of their peers.
Unbeknownst to them, their
friends from Yellowstone County
and Pomona were hiding in the
wings and walked in just before
the movie began.
“We were told they were going to
be on Web conference,” added Peluyera. “It was a great
weekend and we had time to catch
up and reconnect.”
But they were shocked to see
their friends from Pomona –
Carla Vance, Samuel Boyd, Chad
Zeno and Deandre Plummer – and
from Yellowstone – Hanna Porter,
Devin Gilstrap, Mackenzie Hasiak
and Teneya Janis -- enter in person.
“It was great to see the looks
on their faces when we walked
in,” stated
Vance. “This program helped me
understand that even though we
are all different, we share a
lot of the same interests and we
can all work together to achieve
a common goal.”
The teens spent an
excitement-filled weekend
together, enjoying a Tampa Bay
Rays baseball game and a trip to Busch
Gardens. The trip culminated with a Youth
for Unity project, a mural on the wall of the Interbay Boys & Girls Club
in Tampa. They
painted the Youth for Unity
logo, along with their personal
signature as a commemorative
exhibit of the friendships
developed between teens with
diverse backgrounds.
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The teens all helped
create this mural
featuring the Youth for
Unity logo and each of
the teen's signatures. |
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“Some of our youth have never
been outside of our city or
state so this was a great
experience for them. The program
and the trip to Tampa opened
their eyes to new people,
situations and experiences which
is extremely important in this
increasingly diverse world,”
said Victor Caceres, executive
director of Boys & Girls Clubs
of Pomona Valley. “Our Club
members thoroughly embraced this
cause, and to their credit, they
successfully developed a
meaningful project that was a
positive expression about the
advantages of understanding and
celebrating diversity.”
Meeting
for the First Time
For seven weeks last summer the
Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay,
Pomona Valley and Yellowstone
County shared Youth for Unity
lessons with each other over the
Internet, learning to appreciate
themselves, understand society’s
diversity, recognize bias and
unfairness and take personal
leadership in confronting bias.
At the conclusion of the
lessons, national sponsor The
Allstate Foundation, brought
together five teens from each
Club to meet in person for the
first time at Yellowstone
National Park. Now, almost a
year later, they were able to
meet again to view their short
movie created while on their
trip and spend time catching up.
“The Allstate Foundation and
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
recognize that educating young
people to understand and embrace
differences is vital to their
development in an increasingly
diverse America,” said Andrea
Sakoff, corporate relations
officer for The Allstate
Foundation. “We hope the teens
in these Clubs will take
personal leadership in
confronting bias and championing
tolerance, inclusion and
diversity in their communities.”
