Pictured (left to right) in their BUC Room, are the Keystone Club officers Yasin Hassenbey, Treasurer Zakiyyah Godsey, Vice President Ronald Smith, President, Jazmiera Smothers, Secretary, Sandra Morris, Recorder. The students lead a group in the Boys & Girls Clubs Red Bank Unit which performs many community service activities while learning leadership and character skills. They also created the BUC Room as a special place for them in the BGCM building.
After class lets out, clubs are done and sports are played, Red Bank area students are most fortunate to have a great place to go to hang out and socialize. This place –The Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County’s (BCGM) Red Bank Unit– officially opened for business over a year ago in an old office building on the corner of Drs. James Parker Blvd and Bridge Street. It offers space for primary age school activities in the daytime and project planning and activities for teenagers in the evening. Middle school students compose the Torch Club, and high school students the Keystone Club. In the case of the middle and high school students, it offers them an opportunity to plan, develop and carryout projects that actually benefit their community and express themselves.
“This place is about leadership and character-building,” Keystone supervisor Juan Lopez reminds the group of 15 teenagers during a recent planning meeting. The teenagers, all Red Bank Regional (RBR) students, had a full agenda that evening. They were discussing among other things, a visit to other New Jersey Boys & Girls Clubs to adopt new ideas for future programs, planning a Valentines Day dance and a movie night for the primary school age students as well as an impromptu Super Bowl Party. Their plate was full, but they all offered ideas and ways to accomplish these ambitious goals in a short period of time.
“I am truly blessed with this group,” Mr. Lopez remarks. “One day, I had to leave the meeting to attend to another duty and they later presented me with a list of what they discussed and the decisions that were made. They get along great and truly enjoy each other’s company.”
The kids have done quite a lot in the time the group have existed including sponsoring a pancake breakfast for the community, assembling lunches for Lunch Break, holding a holiday wrapping paper fundraiser at Boscov’s in the Mall, tutoring primary school students and volunteering their services at the Red Bank Senior Center’s New Year’s Eve party.
Keystone Club Secretary Jazmiera Smothers recalls how good everyone felt when they received individual thanks yous from the senior citizens for their efforts at the New Year’s Eve party.
Aaron Styles, the Red Bank Unit C who assists Mr. Lopez in advising the Keystone Club remarks, “You know what people sometimes think about teenagers. But once they get to know this group, they realize what these kids are about. It’s all about building trust with their community.
The students’ most ambitious project to date was actually creating their own room just for the Keystone Club from an old office in the BGCM building. It was a long-term endeavor since the teenagers time was significantly compressed with classes, clubs, homework and sport teams this past fall. Still they managed to squeeze in the time to finish the room for a grand opening several weeks ago.
They spackled and painted the walls, installed the rug and even decorated to make it their own. They secured donated furniture from Rent-a-Center in Neptune. Prown’s of Red Bank donated and installed blinds and RBR provided them with a large flat screen TV.
“We named it the BUC room to honor our school and decorated it in BUC colors and posters.” Keystone President Ronald Smith, an RBR sophomore, explains from a couch nestled under a giant maroon Buccaneer flag.
Keystone Vice President Zakiyyah Godsey, a junior who joined the group after her shift was over at work, adds, “This is a place were we can always go and relax, no matter what kind of day we have had.”
RBR sophomore Sandra Morris, another Keystone officer explains that she has been recruiting her friends to join the Boys & Girls Clubs.
She states, “My friends want to know why I am not hanging out on Friday night on the street with them and I tell them that we have a great place to go and chill. But it isn’t just a hangout. We worked hard to have this place and we plan programs that help the community.”
Jazmiera agreed and added, “This is why we enjoy this. It is a privilege.”
This blog post was taken from a January 2012 Red Bank Regional High School publication by Marianne Kligman.
Continue Reading
