Breakfast Club Blog

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Enjoy the brain food.

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!

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4 Amazing Tips To Making Communities Healthier Through STEAM and Sports

If you are a regular BOOST Breakfast Club reader, you may have read my summer article, STEM and Wellness: Colliding Galaxies. The article explores a partnership sparked by a chance meeting at the 2017 BOOST Conference between the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the National Girls Collaborative Project. Three months later and our educational brief, STEM and Wellness: A Powerful Equation for Equity, is now live! Here is the heart of the brief: Intentionally blending STEM/STEAM and wellness...Read More

The Role and Vision of a CEO from a CEO

I have a lot of breakfast meetings these days, the hardest kinds of meetings. Not the kind where I get excited about pitching a program to a new client or get to brainstorm curriculum and advocate for youth. Those meetings I love. No, lately my days are filled with meetings wherein I talk—or, more often, listen– to people expressing real fear and vulnerability about their present and future. Not just people: my staff. In February 2017, I gave speech to my staff on “the state of Arc&#...Read More

Cybersecurity Taking Root in Afterschool

The best and worst of online times. What do you know about Cybersecurity? The Internet, as we all know, offers all the information you could ever want to find, all the time, from anywhere. Unfortunately, “all the information” includes a lot of revealing, specific data about ourselves, our property, and things we care about that we might not want or even understand to be available. Staying protected while connected has become a fundamental challenge of citizenship, as the reach of “being online” ...Read More

A Jewel of a Project: Cassini Mission at Saturn

In the blackness of space, a “jewel” shines in the distant Sun, encircling it once every 29 ½ years. The planet Saturn’s brilliant rings dazzle casual observers and serious scientists alike, reflecting the Sun’s light as though it was a gem. But now, Saturn has a gift from Earth.  After 13 years and 293 orbits around Saturn, on September 15, 2017, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft dove into the planet’s atmosphere, losing all contact. The robotic spacecraft left Earth in 1997, bound for the ringed ...Read More

GIRLS: A Sneak Peek Into Their World of Aggression

In the past couple of years there has been much talk about females becoming more aggressive and violent. More aggressive? Many people would say that’s an understatement. More violent? Now, that’s not such a clear answer. According to the latest research conducted by the Girls Study Group for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, “available evidence based on arrest, victimization, and self-report data suggests that although girls are currently arrested more for simple assault...Read More

Why Schools Should Inspire Students to Do What They Do Best

This is the fourth article in a four-part series. Read the first, second and third articles. Many talented teachers and coaches have a knack for spotting and fostering innate talent in others. They are driven to maximize the potential of every student and athlete who they serve. My daughter Miriam graduated from high school this year, and she was blessed to have such a coach. Four years ago, Miriam was a gymnast who competed successfully at her first regional gymnastics meet. A few weeks later, ...Read More

How to Receive Funding Dollars to Feed Kids on School Holidays & Weekends!

Did you know that funding is available to feed kids on school holidays and weekends? Most program providers know that the Afterschool Meal and Snack Program, through the Child and Adult Care Food Program, will reimburse schools, local government agencies, and private nonprofit organizations for serving meals and snacks to kids in programs after school. Few, however, know that they could receive the same funding to feed kids on school holidays and weekends. The Afterschool Meal and Snack Program ...Read More

8 FREE Resources to Welcome In the New School Year

Happy New Year! Greetings! It is a new year! 2017-2018 starts now! This is a time when you will see kids you know and a time to meet new kiddos. But most important, it is a time to learn from last year and make this year even better. It’s back to school time!     Take a moment to think about what you learned from last year and what your New Year’s resolutions are for this upcoming year, how will you improve your program? Will you concentrate on staff development, sustainable programmi...Read More

7 Healthy Makeover Ideas for Your Office & Breakroom

Back-to-school is Here. For youth serving organizations, transitioning from summer to the school year is stressful. With tight budgets, limited capacity and less-than-inspiring news headlines, staying optimistic, energized and creative is a challenge. This article builds on my previous blog, “Designing Welcoming and Healthy Environments” with seven ways to makeover your office and break room this fall. Like this topic? I will be presenting a workshop based on this article at the National Recreat...Read More

Now Live! Submit an RFP for the 2018 BOOST Conference

From May 1-4, 2018,  thousands of professionals will be joining together to learn, think, inspire, create, and grow at the BOOST Conference and we want YOU to help facilitate this growth and learning through our dynamic workshops. Submit a proposal today! Think about your expertise, what you have to offer to the out-of-school (OST) time field, and what conversations conference participants are seeking. The variety of workshop themes are designed to promote those conversations, interactions, and ...Read More

7 Back-to-School Resources for the Expanded Learning Field

Hello Expanded Learning, Out-of-School Time, and rockstar educators across the globe! In support of back-to-school time, our home team has chosen a hodgepodge of resources that will jumpstart your school year. 1. If you are planning for your programs for the back to school season, BOOST Cafe is a great place to start. Guess what – you’re already here! Click around our website and find the best free resources & curriculum for your programs and classrooms, funding and grants, free ...Read More

Part 2: The Great ASES Augmentation of 2017 – A Children’s Story

In 2015, Sir Mark Leno from the village of San Francisco introduced a bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. By now, the full resources of CA3 were focused on the issue, but that still amounted to very little in comparison to the magnitude of the quest. The Partnership for Children and Youth, a longtime member of CA3 led by Lady Jennifer of Peck, was called upon to lead the campaign and she assigned her most renowned policy warrior to the task, Jessica Gunderson the Tenacious. The gr...Read More