YouthQuest Highlights: January 2021

New Year, New STEAM

Durant-Turri-Mott Elementary started 2021 off strong with a month dedicated to STEAM. Each week of January, students participated in an activity focused on science, technology, engineering, art and math, respectively. Some of the activities included building cars out of household items and building model robots out of food items. These activities helped students relate to concepts in STEAM while having fun and being creative.

Exploring Culture

A new vendor was introduced at Doyle Ryder Elementary in the month of January. The vendor, Bollywood Dance, exposed students to Indian culture through dance. During each session, students learned a new dance over Microsoft Teams from the instructor with a step-by-step tutorial. After the dance lesson, the instructor offered information on Indian culture and allowed students to ask questions. Exposing students to a different culture provided an enriching experience and learning the dances provided physical fitness.

A Moment in Time

Students at the Accelerated Learning Academy started planning to make a YouthQuest-centric time capsule., Learning guides taught the students about time capsules, then brainstormed some of the things they would look forward to seeing in 10 years. Some of the items that students discussed were YouthQuest t-shirts, masks to represent the pandemic, newspaper clippings on the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and letters written to their future selves. The site plans to put together these items and bury the time capsule this spring when program is in-person again.

Bring it Home

During distanced learning, staff at Brownell STEM Academy put together take-home kits for students with a variety of activities. In January, activities included making homemade mini parachutes, mosaic art using beans and face mask crafts. By sending students packages with supplies, the staff at Brownell gave students the opportunity to do hands-on projects while participating on Microsoft Teams at home.

YouthQuest is made possible through the generous support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and 21st Century Community Learning Centers.