YouthQuest Highlights: May 2020

Keeping in Touch

With virtual programming underway, YouthQuest staff have been keeping up with family engagement by calling parents on a weekly basis. During these check-ins, staff asks a variety of questions to ensure families have the resources they need, including food security, technology and support in keeping up with home learning.

Egg-Citing Science

Every week using Microsoft Teams, the YouthQuest pod including Eisenhower, Freeman and Neithercut elementary schools participates in STEM activities. For example, students watched a science experiment during which a learning guide put an egg in a glass bottle using a piece of paper lit on fire. The carbon monoxide produced from the fire created a vacuum that sucked the egg into the bottle. Experiments like these can be recreated at home with adult supervision.

On the Hunt

To promote movement while students are home, the YouthQuest pod including Doyle Ryder Elementary, Holmes STEM Academy and International Academy of Flint Elementary participates in a variety of physical fitness activities through Microsoft Teams. For instance, one recurring activity involves a home scavenger hunt where students are tasked with searching their houses and yards to find various items. The search prompts students to get up and move around.

Around the World – Virtually

Students in the YouthQuest pod including Durant-Tuuri-Mott, Pierce and Potter elementary schools are participating in enrichment experiences that allow them to explore the world. Using videos from YouTube and PBS, employees take students on virtual tours of places across the globe including Africa and the Tundra. During these tours, students can learn about different cultures and see the sights of places they would not be able to visit otherwise.

I Like Big Books

Older YouthQuest students in the pod including Southwestern Classical Academy, International Academy of Flint High School and Flint Middle School are connecting with a variety of activities including a book club. To begin, students in the club read “Penguins Can’t Fly” by Jason W. Kotecki – a book about navigating through adulthood while maintaining a youthful spirit. They then selected their own books to read and discussed what they learned and how they felt about it.