Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston

WEEK #1

My past week as a young leader, was very nice and I learned a lot. The first day we introduced ourselves to all the kids of at the Blue Hill Club as we recruited 10 kids to be in our Music Clubhouse room. As we recruited them we told them all the cool stuff the would be doing like making a music video, rapping in the studio, making beats, recording, and much more fun stuff.

After we explained everything we split all the kids up into two groups and started brainstorming a name for our group, my group came up with Monet and The Blazers. The Club has a theme for every session and the theme for that session was being Around The World, so we started to make a beat and a song.

The second day we started to organize our song and work on writing verses. We spent the next two weeks making the song and rehearsing for the big performance.

We also had great staff that helped me with my job like, Rick, Elon, and Callie. They also helped me deal with challenges with the kids like when kids don't want to cooperate and were just giving me a hard time, and what I learned with kids is even if they are making you mad if you give them a compliment and remind them of a good thing then they seem to cooperate a lot easier with the staff, and it really works.

This past two weeks has been fun and I can't wait for the rest of the summer with Studio Heat summer camp!

WEEK #2

My second week of camp has had a lot of ups and downs. Some of the downs were the weather and how it ruined our field trip and the mood that it put the kids in. The good stuff of the week was we finished our beat and wrote verses and a hook. On about Thursday we started recording them on the song and working on their flow.

The kids were good this week, they cooperated better and focused on getting the job done, which made it a lot easier for us staff. The Blazers Group came up with their own beat without help and their own dance, which really impressed us staff and showed us that we did a good job teaching them how to work music programs on the computer. So besides the weather this week has been good, and I'm looking forward to next week being even better!

WEEK #3

The third week of camp has been all good! The song we did was about waterparks and after we produced and mixed it, we had the kids memorize their verses and then try to rehearse it on the stage. When performance day came the kids did an excellent job on their song, and it turned out to be a great show.

The next day, this one girl came in named Annie. She is about 10 years old and she said "Can I make a song?" So Rick and I are thinking it's just going to be a regular song from a little girl, but she blew us away with her vocals and lyrics. She also is a dancer, so after we produced the song she showed it to her dance group and they came up with a dance right on the spot and performed an hour later for the big show, which to me was just amazing to see. This week has been a good week, so I am ready for what next week has to offer!

WEEK #4

So far this week of camp has been good. We went to Chez Vous skating rink in Mattapan, and it was cool and the kids had a lot of fun. We also went to Canobie Lake the week before and it was fun as well, even the ride there and back was fun because the kids were energetic and kept us entertained. The song that we have been working on is good and it's about sports. After we made the beat we helped them write their verses and flow it to the beat. When we produced the song the kids suggested that we should have a dance, so this was the first song where we had choreography for the kids. So it was a cool song and good to watch. This week was good and I can't wait for the last week of camp!

WEEK #5

This week has been good. On Wednesday the kids had the olympics at the Club. They went to every room and did different activities like basketball, trivia, swimming and many more games. The campers have been spending a lot of time outside because it is the last week of camp. Most of the staff have been finishing up projects that the kids have been working on during all of the sessions. The music group (my group) has been rehearsing a new song with a dance to change it up a little for the last performance. We have to do a show tomorrow for all the campers and staff, so hopefully it will be great!

FINAL PERFORMANCE - Last Day of Summer Camp

On August 21 the summer camp at the Blue Hill Club came to a close with a talent show produced by Club members. Young Leader Javon worked with campers to produce a rap song and choreograph a dance. Here is his take on how the performance went:


What was the crowd’s reaction to your performance?
The crowd loved our performance and showed it to us as we performed. A lot of kids were cheering us on as we were rapping and counselors were bouncing their heads and smiling as we performed.


How did it feel to close out the summer camp session?
It felt good, I really enjoyed all of our performances and helping the kids learn how to rap and produce music. The last performance, I really went hard on my last verse of the song so I could give every kid something to remember me by. It felt great to perform like that for them.


What do you think was the biggest thing your campers learned in the Music Clubhouse?
I think the biggest thing that our kids learned was how to rap. A lot of the kids came in at the beginning of the camp knowing how to write a rap, but not knowing how to rap with the beat. So after a long time of demonstration they finally got it.


What was your biggest accomplishment as a Young Leader?
My biggest accomplishment as a young leader was teaching the kids how to record themselves in Pro Tools (a computer program) and making songs with them.


Do you think you will want to work at the Club’s summer camp again next year?
Yes, I would love to work at the Club's summer camp next year because this is one of the best jobs a person could have!

“To me, the Club is one big life lesson,” says Shavoryia McElroy, age 17, who has been a leader and role model at the Blue Hill Club for 11 years. She works as a Junior Staff member and is Vice President of Keystone Club, through which she developed a mentoring program to help pre-teen Club members prepare for the difficulties of life as a teenager. She also coaches her peers with advice on how to focus on the big picture, saying things such as, “You can never hold down a professional job losing your temper every time your boss aggravates you.”

Shavoryia is an equally devoted leader in the Dorchester community which, she says, was inspired by the Club. She has worked with Breath of Life Dorchester (B.O.L.D.) Teens, a youth-led organization working to improve health and safety in Dorchester through civic engagement and partnerships.

When she isn’t at the Club or helping her community, Shavoryia helps her mother at home with housework, cooking or mentoring her younger cousins. “She is a huge support to her mother emotionally,” said Teen Director Erica Fitch. “At times one might think they are more like friends or sisters than mother and daughter,”

Staff agree that Shavoryia is a “born leader whose maturity in understanding moral character goes well beyond her 17 years,” After she graduates from Boston Latin Academy in June, she plans to attend Northeastern University and study criminal justice. “I know that I am making my family, teachers, advisors and myself proud,” she says.