Category: Youth Development

  • It’s fall, the school year is kicking into high gear, and Girls On The Run is well into the start of its fall season. This year, according to GOTR program director Jacquie Kippen, more than 900 girls are registered at Y branches and local schools. That’s one of the biggest classes since the program began.…

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  • Boys get a chance to build their endurance, strength and most importantly, character through a new running program called STRIDE (Success, Teamwork, Respect, Inspiration, Determination, and Excellence of Character) that’s just for them. The program for boys in grades 3-5 kicks off with a 6 p.m. session Monday at the South Oakland YMCA, where parents…

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  • While the Boll Family YMCA is in the shadow of Comerica Park, it didn’t have a baseball team of its own. That is, until this summer, when Y staffer Larry White recruited a dozen kids to represent the Y in the Detroit PAL baseball league.

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  • Parents can revisit their own camp memories and make new ones with their children at Camp Nissokone’s Labor Day Family Camp. On Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30-Sept.2) families can enjoy all the fun of summer camp together in an affordable, all-inclusive getaway in beautiful northern Michigan.

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  • Around 150 lucky day campers from the South Oakland Y got to participate in a pro camp held by Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, thanks to a generous donation from Meijer and Proctor and Gamble.

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  • The students of the Detroit Creativity Project, a Y-Arts program, are headed for a chance to show off their talents on a big scale during the Detroit Improv Festival Aug. 7-11. The Detroit Creativity Project will be featured performers at the kickoff show of the festival Aug. 7, playing to improv fans from across the…

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  • Thanks to generous donors, the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign came in well over its goal and hit a four-year high in dollars raised. But beyond the numbers are people who are helped by the campaign; families, children and seniors who are able to be part of the YMCA. Here’s just one of their stories.

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  • For the first time, the YMCA of Detroit presented the John Copeland Award for Civility and Community Service not to an individual, but to an entire family: the Vanderkaays. The family, which includes son Peter, a four time Olympic medalist, have been supporters of and ambassadors for the Detroit Swims program since it launched. Thanks…

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  • Creative students from throughout the Metro area are converging on the Boll Family YMCA for the Y-Arts Summer Institute, which involves them in filming, music production and more. New this year is a partnership with a local artist and a channel for communicating via social media with students from Great Britain.

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  • Students from the Y Detroit Leadership Academy enjoyed weekly lunches this school year with their Lunch Buddies, a program through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit that matched young people with adult mentors from Quicken Loans.

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