SES FCAT Tutoring

Boys & Girls Clubs of Bay County provides FCAT tutoring for area students who have difficulty approaching the math, reading and writing sections of Florida’s Comprehensive Assessment Tests. As you know, the FCAT is a standardized test that serves to measure whether students have attained an adequate understanding of basic material for their respective grade levels. Our experienced tutors help your child to better understand the testing materials, feel more confident on test day, and achieve higher FCAT scores. 

Our Clubs use certified FCAT materials and practice tests for the most accurate evaluations possible and our tutors focus on building FCAT testing skills by reinforcing basic concepts in Mathematics and English. While guiding our students in basic practice lessons, we also provide the necessary training in applying their work in a manner that accommodates FCAT testing. The entire preparatory program is geared toward the specific structure and approach of the exam itself, to best help each student pass it.

Because the FCAT is administered for all grade levels, we do not teach FCAT prep collectively, we offer one-to-one tutoring.

POWER HOUR- Homework Tutoring

A comprehensive homework help and tutoring program for Boys & Girls Club youth aged 6 to 18 years, Power Hour: Making Minutes Count provides members with the support, resources and guidance necessary to complete their homework – and start the school day with a sense of confidence and ability. As members complete homework assignments and bonus activities, they accumulate Power Points, which may be used to obtain Power Rewards – prizes, activities and incentives. In addition, Power Hour offers tutoring assistance for members who need additional work in special areas.

Power Hour offers a structured time and place for Club staff and volunteers to help members with an important aspect of the educational process – homework. Members emerge from the program better prepared for classes and proud of their hard work and accomplishments.

The philosophy underlying the Power Hour program is that the benefits of homework are threefold – academic, behavioral and social. By working on homework after school, members reinforce skills and concepts learned that day. Young people who consistently complete their homework develop a deeper understanding of the work, and are ready to move on to more challenging concepts. In addition, homework completion leads to long-term improvements in members’ grades and test scores.

Beyond the academic benefit, consistent homework completion helps young people develop valuable organizational skills – including time management, prioritizing and task completion. These skills not only are necessary for achievement in school but also are a foundation for a successful life. In addition, young people who have their homework completed enter the classroom confident and fully prepared to engage in the activities of the school day.

Power Hour enables Clubs to provide extra attention and focused assistance to at-risk members and those in need of motivation and direction. With the proper guidance and support, every Club member has the chance to develop self-directed learning skills and to be successful in school.

Club staff and volunteers who help members with their homework are the heart of the program and the key to its success. Ask successful adults to whom they credit their success, and many cite the names of mentors who inspired them at a critical time. Mentors can be parents or older siblings; often they are teachers or other members of the community.

Power Hour also operates on the belief that a child’s progress depends upon open communication between the program staff and parents, and between staff and classroom.

Jr. Staff

The Junior Staff Career Development Program was developed by Boys & Girls Clubs of America to assist members aged 11 to 18 years in exploring a career in youth or human services, particularly Boys & Girls Club work.  The program prepares youth for a leadership role as a human service professional or volunteer leader.  The program objectives are:

to provide youth with the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive career/volunteer development program consisting of leadership and service activities

to provide youth with an essential guidance/support system designed to help them examine the values inherent in human service, either as a career or a volunteer pursuit

to encourage youth to actively pursue a career in the Boys & Girls Club Movement or serve in a volunteer capacity as a mentor, coach, alumni member, etc. 

Youth of the Year

In 1947, Boys & Girls Clubs of America formed an important partnership with Readers Digest to implement a national youth recognition initiative that promotes good moral character, leadership and service qualities in today’s youth. The Youth of the Year program is a national youth recognition program that celebrates the Boys & Girls Club experience. It is a year-round program for youth ages 14-18 that promotes and celebrates members’ service to Club; community and family; academic performance; moral character; life goals; poise and public speaking abilities. It is the cornerstone of the organization’s Character and Development core program area, helping young people focus on personal development attributes needed to successfully transcend into adulthood.

The Youth of the Year program is a mainstay of the Boys & Girls Club experience, and gives young people a voice and a path to showcase personal development. The program provides young people with the opportunity to show their Club, their community, their state, their region and the entire United States that they have developed into model citizens. Through essays and speeches, Youth of the Year candidates illustrate how they have turned their aspirations into actions and overcome personal obstacles to achieve success. 

Baby & Me Pregnancy Prevention

“Babies are Hard to Take Care of”

That was just one of the many comments received from the over 20 boys and girls, ages 12 to 17 who ‘pretended’ to be parents for a week and found that parenting is not as easy as they thought it would be.  The Boys & Girls Clubs of Bay County, in partnership with the Healthy Start Coalition, conducted the RealCare® Parenting Program called “Baby Think It Over” at all three local clubs.  Both boys and girls ages 12 to 17 participated.    Babies require feeding, burping, rocking and diaper changing. Our babies are so realistic and they even record how successful the student is in meeting the needs of the baby and if the baby is shaken or mishandled in any way.  The parenting experience allows the students to discover for themselves what the role of a parent feels like.  It is intended to help students understand three important facts.

Each infant is unique and requires a great deal of love, time and attention.

Infants’ demands are unpredictable but must be met promptly

Parenting responsibilities impact one’s lifestyle profoundly and should only be taken on by someone prepared for that responsibility. 

Students took pre and post surveys to determine the effectiveness of the program.  Comments included: “It was straight”

“I think that the best time to have sex and or a baby is after marriage”

“It was hard!!!”

“Babies are hard to take care of”

“It is hard work because you have to take the baby everywhere you go”

“It is hard work because you don’t always have help” 

“It has been hard because you have to have a lot of patience”

“I’m not having babies” 

Money Matters:

In a world becoming ever more complex and financially demanding, personal finance education, particularly for youth, is vital to our community and nation’s future. Unfortunately, many young people heading off to college or into the workforce are not getting this education and are unprepared to make even the most basic of financial transactions, let alone save and manage their money.

The Money Matters: Make It Count program uses interactive activities and exercises to educate teens, ages 13 to 18, on the various aspects of financial literacy, including managing a checking account, budgeting, saving, investing and paying for college. The Money Matters program was developed in a joint collaboration between Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Charles Schwab Foundation.

Through the Money Matters program, we are hoping to arm teens with the tools they need to become financially savvy adults.

Goals For Graduation

Boys & Girls Clubs of America has designed Goals for Graduation to combat academic underachievement through supporting and enhancing the education of children. By helping youth develop, set and achieve appropriate academic goals, Goals for Graduation helps them become lifelong learners. The program features five major components:

Focus Young People’s Attention on Setting Goals

Set Goals for Academic Success

Support and Encourage Achievement

Help Young People Relate Goal Setting Success to Other Areas of their Lives

Assist Young People Develop a Personal Commitment to Learning

Through these five components, Clubs mobilize their resources to support Club members’ success in school. 

CareerLaunch:

CareerLaunch is BGCA’s premier career development program providing a range of services to help club Members develop the skills essential for workforce success. This includes not only getting and keeping a job, but also finding a career that fits each member’s interests and talents. 

The CareerLaunch program will support participants in setting, pursuing and realizing career goals. Participants will see the range of careers available to them and what it takes to achieve them, while developing the concrete skills and knowledge necessary to get started on their way to productive, fulfilling careers.

In general, teens face unique barriers to employment. These can range from transportation issues and limited availability, to a lack of maturity and basic workforce skills. Most young people are influenced by their families and schools to develop the skills necessary to function in the workplace. With guidance and resources, they develop the competencies that not only enable them to seek and gain employment as teens, but set the course for continual professional development for the rest of their lives. The young people who are most in need of technological, educational and career development resources are in our Boys & Girls Clubs every day.

If young people, especially at-risk teens from disadvantaged circumstances, are not developing these necessary skills for today’s carriers in traditional ways, then they need to learn them through other means. The movement under foot to match schools and employers with school-to-work initiatives will be beneficial for some teens, but a non-traditional setting like the Boys & Girls Club can add another important partner and link to help teens prepare for employment and careers. Preparing young people for adulthood and the world of work by developing the skills and competencies necessary in today’s world is the top priority of Boys & Girls Clubs of Bay County. Career preparation services offered by the Club can provide teens with the environment to learn, grow and gain a positive foothold in the labor market.

Swimming Lessons