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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A Conversation about Student Connection with Susie Estrada

Connection is Key to Student Engagement! In this collaborative blog series, TEAMBOOST asked leaders in the youth development field how they build student connection in their program environments. Healthy and authentic relationships are important to positive youth outcomes, and TEAMBOOST is proud to spotlight the expertise of our BOOST Leadership Team Members, BOOST Ambassadors, and BOOST Partners in the Student Connection blog series! Welcome, Susie Estrada (She/Her/Hers), to center stage! Thank...Read More

A Conversation about Student Connection with Christina Green

Connection is Key to Student Engagement! In this collaborative blog series, TEAMBOOST asked leaders in the youth development field how they build student connection in their program environments. Healthy and authentic relationships are important to positive youth outcomes, and TEAMBOOST is proud to spotlight the expertise of our BOOST Leadership Team Members, BOOST Ambassadors, and BOOST Partners in the Student Connection blog series! Welcome, Christina Green (She/Her), to center stage! Thank yo...Read More

A Conversation about Student Connection with Becky Shultz

Connection is Key to Student Engagement! In this collaborative blog series, TEAMBOOST asked leaders in the youth development field how they build student connection in their program environments. Healthy and authentic relationships are important to positive youth outcomes, and TEAMBOOST is proud to spotlight the expertise of our BOOST Leadership Team Members, BOOST Ambassadors, and BOOST Partners in the Student Connection blog series! Welcome, Becky Shultz (She/her), to center stage! Thank you, ...Read More

Holiday Time!

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”  Each time I hear that Christmas song, I wonder, “Is it really?” Nearly half of Americans sometimes or always feel alone. For some of us, the holiday season is a bittersweet mix of joy and grief. Maybe life didn’t go the way we expected because of disappointment, death, or divorce. I walked through a heart-wrenching divorce, and the effects of that split are felt by me and my kids every holiday. They share their time between me and their dad. For days,...Read More

Making Fitness Fun in After-School Programs

Exercise is an essential part of a healthy childhood and young adult life, and after-school programs are encouraging America’s youth to get moving and build healthy lifestyle habits. While working out and exercising are crucial for a child’s well-being, it can be challenging to find activities that kids actually enjoy. After-school program directors have to work extra hard to create an exciting and unique curriculum for kids. In this article, we dissect the reasons that exercise is so critical f...Read More

A Call to Action – Let’s not forget our Older Youth

This morning I had coffee and a celery-green apple-turmeric smoothie (my wife is trying to keep us healthy) for breakfast. Perhaps it did not provide the proper amount of sweetness to boost my mood, but perhaps it was just the kind of medicine I needed to say the following. We need to think about our priorities. We need to focus on older youth. The field of education, after school, and beyond is currently focused on getting young students, TK through 2nd graders, back to in-person learning ASAP....Read More

When OST Comes Home: What Happens, What Counts, and What Matters?

Both the evidence from the science of learning and common sense tell us that learning and development occur all the time. But typically, opportunities for learning and development are shared and spread over various spaces, places, and delivery modes in schools, community organizations, and families. But ten days ago, most of those places were abruptly shut down – schools were closed, OST programs shuttered, and parks were ordered emptied. Yet learning and development didn’t stop. Millions of fam...Read More

What Does SEL Look Like In Afterschool Programs?

Although the first semester is almost over, it is not too late to make adjustments to your programming for Spring 2020.  Recently, afterschool leaders have asked me: “How do I incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) into my program?”  Before discussing the how, let’s look at the why. In the early 1990s, Hawkins & Catalano (1992, 1995)identified three factors to help move kids from risk to resilience:  1.) Relationships, 2.) High Expectations, and 3.) Meaningful Engagement.  Given our cur...Read More

Fostering The Idea Of Opportunity

This blog was first published on the MCUVO!CE website and appears with permission by the author, first-time Breakfast Club Blogger Marcus Strother. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As an educator, I have been able to work with a multitude of students. As a professional, I have been able to learn from a number of great mentors. I have allowed both of these opportunities to guide me on my journey as a youth advocate. I ...Read More

Quality Comes First on the Road to Critical Skills and Mindsets

There’s a burgeoning conversation about what kids need in America. More and more, educators, youth developers, and policymakers are thinking and talking about how we help young people build critical skills and mindsets like persistence, self-awareness, empathy, and communication. Paul Tough’s popular book How Children Succeed brought these concepts to popular culture, even Ira Glass got on board in an episode of This American Life! Though we haven’t yet settled on one common ph...Read More

3 Lessons on Growth Through After School Programs

Being that this is my first blog as a BOOST Breakfast Club Blogger, I am excited to share my passion for afterschool programs. When I began in the year 2000, there were more questions than answers. It was the age of discovery and exploration. It was before the After School Education and Safety (ASES) programs existed and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) programs were the only thing we knew. I was hired as a part-time Site Coordinator for an after school program and part-time Campus...Read More

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