Category Archives: Youth

Hands-on fun and enriching classes offered this summer for K-12

Wilderness Survival! Green Engineering!  Rocketry!  SAT Prep! Broadway Buddy Camp! Deep Sea Explorations! Learn coding, geography, clay-mation, singing, sewing, chemistry, photography, art, cooking, track and field skills, and paper Mache! Keep your kiddos busy and engaged this summer with these hands-on classes offered by Ventura Education Partnership’s 10th annual Summer Enrichment Academy!  These fee-based classes are open to kids of all ages, grades K-12, during the first three weeks of summer break. This is not your regular school day….these academies are enriching and exciting days of fun!

All courses are taught by Ventura Unified School District teachers, who have created these exploratory week-long sessions as an opportunity to have fun and teach their passion! All proceeds from the Summer Enrichment Academy will benefit Ventura Education Partnership, the non-profit organization that supports all of Ventura’s public schools with grants of up to $1000 to teachers and staff through its VEPGrant program. For more information and to enroll in the Summer Enrichment Academy, visit www.venturaeducationpartnership.org/SEA. For more information, contact Karen Reynosa at [email protected] or call 641-5116 x2164.

 

 

Ventura Family YMCA providing scholarships for swim instruction and water safety to underserved community children

As part of the Y’s commitment to reduce drowning rates and keep kids safe in and around the water, the Ventura Family YMCA will provide scholarships for swim instruction and water safety to children from underserved communities in and around Ventura.

In addition to learning lifesaving water safety skills, children can increase their physical activity by swimming. To learn how to qualify for financial assistance, please visit ciymca.org/ventura.  For further information please contact Brie Young at [email protected] or 642.2131 ext. 19.

Cypress Place awards scholarships

Ventura High School students Daniela Aranda  and Sierra Conboy were each awarded a $2500 Cypress Place Senior Living “Senior to Senior Legacy Scholarship award. Photo courtesy of Cypress
Ventura High School students Daniela Aranda  and Sierra Conboy were each awarded a $2500 Cypress Place Senior Living “Senior to Senior Legacy Scholarship award. Photo courtesy of Cypress

When the owners of Cypress Place Senior Living in Ventura decided to create a scholarship fund for local high school students wanting to pursue a college degree, the Cypress Place Senior Living “Senior to Senior” Legacy Scholarship was created.

Cypress Place Senior Living is an independent, assisted, and memory care community for seniors.  By awarding two $2500 scholarships to local high school seniors, residents at Cypress Place are attempting to pass on opportunities for young people in the community, according to Steve Spira, executive director at Cypress Place.

Applicants needed to have a verified 3.2 or higher GPA and to have applied for fall 2016 admission to a college or university with the intention of obtaining a degree.  Applicants were also asked to submit  an essay about their reason for pursuing higher education along with a personal account of how a senior or seniors has affected their life, including specific examples of intergenerational experiences of the applicant.

The members of the Resident Scholarship Committee at Cypress Place read the essays, then held oral interviews with the semi-finalists to determine the two award winners.

On May 26 the awards were presented to Daniela Aranda and Sierra Conboy, both from Ventura High School.  Aranda plans on studying economics at Brigham Young University, while Conboy plans on attending Gettysburg College and would like to become an international lawyer.

Ventura High Principal, Carlos Cohen , and VHS Career Center Counselor, Phyllis Dilly, were in attendance, along with family members of the recipients, and many seniors from Cypress Place. The senior citizens were beaming just as brightly as the recipients during the awards ceremony.

“Tonight we watched two wonderful girls go confidently in the direction of their dreams,” said Irv Wasserberg, a resident at Cypress Place, and the Scholarship Committee Chair.   “This was the 4th year the Cypress Place owners granted this scholarship to our local Ventura students, and it is a highlight for all of us to be a part of it.”

As the scholarship awards evening wound down, Aranda and Conboy both expressed their appreciation for their awards once again.  They both hope to be able to present awards to future Cypress Place Senior Living “Senior to Senior” Legacy Scholarship recipients when they themselves have graduated from college.

 

Can you sing?

The Master Chorale Children’s Choir is auditioning now for the fall session.  Classical children’s concert choir. Rehearsal groups graded for ages 6 -18.

Award winning choir with concerts at the historic San Buenaventura Mission, tours, and competition festivals, and much more.  Please call for an audition held in Somis, 796-1951 and check their website at www.mastercc.org.

Vista Real Charter High School Class of 2016

Vista Real’s graduating class with Serina Garcia sharing her success at the school.
Vista Real’s graduating class with Serina Garcia sharing her success at the school.

school vista real inset

by Sheri Long – Vista Real Charter High School Community Liaison

Vista Real Charter High School held its 11th annual graduation on May 24. Eighty-three graduates took to the stage in full cap and gown to receive their hard earned diploma. Many of these students accepted their diploma as the first in their family to graduate from high school or in the face of daily obstacles. In many cases, these students never dreamed of graduating in spite of homelessness, health problems, the need to support a family, or having become young parents themselves.

The Vista Real Guitar club played the traditional processional of Pomp and Circumstance and the evening’s keynote speaker was Frankie Guzman, staff attorney from the National Center for Youth Law. Mr. Guzman shared his personal obstacles with the graduating class in stating that “life is ten percent of what happens to you, and ninety percent how you react to it.” Along with Mr. Guzman, three student speakers, Serina Garcia, Andrew Zendejas, and Dana Nininger-Erck shared their own stories of what lead them to high school completion at Vista Real from the need to care for an ill parent to a pregnancy at age 17.

The Choices in Learning Scholarship was granted to Patricia Ramirez who will be attending a program in the hopes of becoming a dental hygienist. With personalized learning, scheduling flexibility, one-on-one attention and workforce readiness programs, Vista Real has prepared these graduates for future endeavors. While some choose to attend college through the mentorship and application assistance provided by Vista Real, others will be moving into the workforce to become productive members of the local community.

We commend these students for their perseverance and willingness to work toward their future and wherever it may take them in a positive direction. While student speaker Zendejas plans to join the U.S. Coast Guard and Nininger-Erck will be starting college in the fall, Serina Garcia spoke for every student when she stated, “there is always a way to reach out and grab your dream.”

For more information on Vista Real and any of the six resource centers located throughout Ventura County please visit us online at VRCHS.org or call  437-9332.

Rubicon announces upcoming 2016 summer programs

Director Brian McDonald works with the students from Rubicon’s Theatre Camp. Photo courtesy of Rubicon Theatre Company

by Richard Lieberman

Brian McDonald Director, and acting instructor at the Rubicon Theatre Company has announced a new season of performance camps and intensives, master classes and workshops. McDonald founder and program director of Rubicon’s Summer Youth Program has appeared in national tours of Miss Saigon and Forever Plaid.

The program designed for youth from 5 years to 19 plus years, gives participants an opportunity to “play, explore and create in a professional environment, “McDonald said. “Our program is a place for students to take a risk, stretching beyond their comfort zone.”

Classes are held at Rubicon Theatre Company located at 1006 East main Street in the heart of Ventura’s Cultural Arts District. The program offers students an opportunity to study with trained, experienced instructors, who are working theatre arts professionals.

McDonald who has spent the past 15 years at the Rubicon said, “we focus on making our programs the best they can be.” “I think throughout my life I have been a creative person,” he added. Creative from an early age he shared a memory of his early creative talent “I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old, my bicycle was stolen, and I got some neighborhood kids together, and I set up a mock trial, and we all played parts like a real trial.”

The 2016 summer programs offered by the Rubicon Theatre Company this season include The Stinky Feet Theatre Workshop designed for youth from 5-12, Theatre Camp, Ages 11-14, The Fearless Shakespeare Intensive from ages 15-23, and The Musical Theatre Intensive, Ages 15-23.

These programs offer students of all ages the opportunity to develop performance and personal skills in a challenging yet nurturing professional environment with top theatre artists and instructors. For more information on these summer programs email to [email protected] or check the Rubicon website at rubicontheatre.org.

 

Wheel Fun Rentals renews partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters

Big sister Ashley Bryant and little sister Roselith enjoying a ride at Wheel Fun Rentals.

Wheel Fun Rentals, the number one recreational rental company in the country, announced it is renewing a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters for a program called “Biking Buddies.”  For the tenth consecutive year, the Biking Buddies program will provide free rentals to underprivileged children and their mentors around the nation.  To date, 1.25 million dollars’ worth of free rentals have been donated to Bigs and Littles.

Wheel Fun Rentals launched the “Biking Buddies” program in 2006 each year, more than 30,000 individuals directly benefit from Biking Buddies – 15,000 underprivileged youth and their mentors have the opportunity to rent products that range from a fleet of unique bikes, including multi-passenger Surrey cycles, tandem bikes, beach cruisers, several styles of low-to-the-ground recumbent cycles, and more. The program is valid at more than 50 locations nationwide and supports over twenty Big Brother Big Sister chapters.

“At Wheel Fun Rentals we like to see children moving, biking, paddling, laughing, and enjoying the great outdoors,” said Sheena Walenta, Marketing Director at Wheel Fun Rentals.

“This is a great gesture that will bring lots of fun to our Littles,” said Lonna Radford, member of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Advisory Board.

“I’d like to thank Wheel Fun Rentals for extending this very generous donation to BBBS,” said Mike, a Big Volunteer at Big Brothers Big Sisters San Diego Chapter. “Much of today’s youth spend their time inside, off their feet, completely reliant on electronics for entertainment; so it’s great to have a fun outdoor activity readily available.”

By being part of the program, these children see “Little Moments turn into Big Magic.” If you’d like to become a volunteer or support BBBS programs, please call your local Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter, or find your local chapter online at https://aim.bbbs.org/einquiry/einquiryzip.aspx?t=2.  To find out more about the Biking Buddies program visit http://www.wheelfunrentals.com/Content/BBBS.aspx.

2016 Youth Of The Year – Sarah Ruiz

Sarah Ruiz presented an art piece to the Mayor at the City Council meeting where she was honored.

At the City Council Meeting on May 9, 2016 – Sarah Ruiz, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Ventura’s 2016 Youth of the Year, was recognized by Mayor Nasarenko and the other council members for her outstanding achievements.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s  Youth of the Year program honors our nation’s most awe-inspiring young people on their path to great futures and encourages all kids to lead, succeed and inspire. As the 2016 Youth of the Year for the  Boys & Girls Club of Greater Ventura, 15-year old Sarah is a true example of an extraordinary young woman recognized for her leadership, service, academic excellence and dedication to live a healthy lifestyle.

Sarah consistently pushes herself to be better.  She truly enjoys opportunities to give service to others and studies diligently for good grades and a better life.  Sarah has received multiple accomplishments like the President’s Education Award for Academic Excellence and the President’s Volunteer Service Award for outstanding volunteer and community service work.

Sarah began attending the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Ventura at the age of six, along with her brother and sister.  Her parents were in and out of her life, which made things difficult, but her grandparents stepped up to take care of her and introduced her to the Boys & Girls Club.  She often expresses her gratitude for this turning point in her life.

As a teen, she became a tutor for kids who needed help with homework, started helping out at the front counter by signing kids in and out, answering phones, and helping parents who needed assistance.  Sarah became a member of Torch Club – a group for members in middle school, dedicated to leadership and community service.

In addition to being a member Sarah gives back to her Club by providing several hours of community service.  Sarah reaches out to the younger members of the club to provide help with homework or guidance with any problems that they might be having.

Sarah plans on attending a four year University and is interested in pursuing a future career in forensic science.

“We are all very proud of Sarah’s accomplishments and recognize that she has the potential to not only build a great future for herself, but to also aid those in need along the way said Patti Birmingham, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Ventura.

Mayor Nasarenko served as one of eight judges for the Club’s local Youth of the Year competition that was held in March of this year.  He was able to witness first hand, what a poised and confident young lady Sarah has become.

Sarah went on to compete with other Boys & Girls Club youth at the Area Council level which included youth from Ventura, SantaBarbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern Counties.  She was selected as the BGC Coastal Area Youth of the Year, received a $2,500 scholarship and an opportunity for a full ride scholarship to Marquette University.  She went on to compete against eight other youth for the title of BGC California Youth of the year in Sacramento.  Sarah was the only Sophomore amongst eight high school Seniors in the competition.

For more information about the Youth of the Year program, visit http://www.youthoftheyear.org.

To find out how you can get involved in creating Great Futures for the youth of our community, or to make a donation, visit the Club website at www.bgclubventura.org or call them at  641-5585.

The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Ventura corporate office is located at 6020 Nicolle St., Ventura.

Honoring our foster youth

In  June, 80-90 Ventura County foster youth, ages 17 and older, will be honored at the annual Milestones event held at Cal State University, Channel Islands.  The Milestones event recognizes the achievements that these youth have accomplished throughout the past year. Many of the honorees will be graduating high school, and others will have completed another semester in College, moved into their first apartment or reunited with a family member. Along with guests and community sponsors, about 250 people are expected at this invitation-only event. Milestones is a community event that is funded entirely by donations from individuals, agencies, businesses, and churches in Ventura County.  100% of all donations go to fund the event and provide prizes and awards for the honorees. Donations can be made at the Milestones website at www.milestonesvc.org.   For more information on becoming a Milestones community supporter, please contact Cristina Miranda at [email protected].