Zippy's Drug-Free Drawing Contest!

During the month of February youth were encouraged to enter the Zippy's Drug-Free Drawing Contest to try to win the grand prize to Disney Land. Also, prizes like PSPs and gift certificates to Toys R Us are awarded for each grade level. Great job to Keonna M, Ariana M, Brian A, Delysa M, Courtney N, Maria M and Tomoko K for participating. At Aliamanu, an independent judge (not a staff member) chose the best drawing to win an extra prize--3 ClubBucks to be used at the club snack bar!! Congratulations to Brian for his awesome drawing showing us how to make positive choices when we approach difficult crossroads in life. Brian's drawing will be posted at the club for all to see during the month of March.

Exploring Density in Mad Science

"Today we did an experiment called Layered Density. First you have liquids (I can't remember what kind) and then you put in the thickest to the thinnest substance. In between all of those I put dish soap. The liquid separates from thickest to thinnest. The last two mix. I think this is because they have the same density. I also put a bottle cap in it and it floated. I think this is because it also has the same density. I hope we do something like that again...it was cool!" ~Courtney N.
"Today in Mad Science we layered density. First I poured in syrup, color green. Then I put in alcohol, color orange. Next I poured in soap, color yellow. The soap went under the alcohol. So now the colors are green, yellow and orange. And it looks cool. Thanks Dani!" ~Huni P.

"Today we made layered density and mine's kind of messed up! The materials that we used were water, dish soap, alcohol and syrup and I think that mine messed up because of the water. Oh well...I'll do a better job next time (I hope!)...it was fun!" ~Arii V.
"It's messed up because I never poured it slowly. But I think it's awesome. I learned that liquids that weigh more sink." ~Melysa K.

"I feel mine didn't get messed up because I poured it slowly and the liquids on the side of the cup. The reason it's layered is because the denser liquids sink to the bottom while the less dense stay on top." ~Shantae D.
"I think you have to put the thicker layers in first because the thicker layers are more dense. So that makes the thinner layers stay on top." ~Branden L.

Victory for AMS Girls Basketball!

Great job to the 7th and 8th grade girls basketball teams! They both defeated Moanalua! Miss Dani and Miss Natalie had a great time cheering on our girls from the club: Melysa, Jazmine, Michelle, Carla and Kawehi. Here's two of my favorite pics from the day, but click here for an album with lots more!

Michelle, Melysa and Jazmine running down the court

Carla and Kawehi wait for the action to start

Getting Goal-Oriented with Coco!

Coco Ho returned to Aliamanu today for a visit! We created a special GRLZ 4 Change program this Friday for the girls to get some time with Coco to hear about her career and to talk about their own life goals. It was great to see Coco being so honest and authentic with the girls. It really created an environment where they felt comfortable to share about themselves as well. My favorite part was when Heather told the group that her goal was to sing in front of a crowd besides just her school. So Coco encouraged her to get up in front of the girls and share her signing skills with us. She did great.
After they talked for a bit, they played charades to act our their goals! There's tons of funny pictures on our Picasa album! And check out what the girls had to say about their time with Coco:

"It was fun when we played with Coco because we got to talk about our goals and what we love to do. We got to act out what we would want to be. My goal was being a professional basketball player." ~Melysa

"We talked with Coco Ho about goals today. My goal is to be a wedding planner. My favorite part was the games. Our team won! It was so much fun. Thanks Boys & Girls Club!" ~Brianna
"When we spent time with Coco, we played a game and talked about what our goals were. My favorite part was hearing the funny things she said like how she wears all, well mostly Volcom. Then she told us that it was mostly everything except her socks and underwear! This really made me laugh!" ~Carla

"We talked about goals and stuff and played a game. And Coco Ho was awesome! And I love her clothes!" ~Maria
"We played games and talked about our goals in life. What a lot of fun! I'm gonna miss her." ~Heather

And I loved Aleigha's drawing so much that I had to just scan and post her blog... :)

Marshmallow Towers!

Last week's Mad Science gave the kids a chance to experiment with some architecture. They built towers out of marshmallows and toothpicks! Check out what they had to say...
"I made a marshmallow tower. It held up the book and I built the best structure! It was fun!" ~Diano

"We had fun building a marshmallow structure to balance a book. We won because we put a lot of toothpicks to hold the marshmallows up." ~Chelsea
"It was fun to make a marshmallow structure. We won but it survived only a little time. Then we put the Judy Blume book on it and it worked. I got a Club Buck!" ~Chad

"Today's experiment was fun. We had to build a marshmallow structure to hold up a book. Brandon, Arnold and I failed epicly! It fell because it was not supported well. But I ate a lot of marshmallows!" ~Preston
"During this Mad Science we had to build something out of marshmallows and toothpicks. With Justice's and Ari's help, we build a little box that we thought would work. But when we put the book on it, it failed and was crushed!" ~Shantae
"Today's experiment was really good. We tried to make the heavy book stand on toothpicks and marshmallows. No, mine didn't work but it was fun!" ~Keonna

Rain!

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass…it's learning to dance in the rain."
To all the parents who greeted soggy, damp children today, I apologize! But if you had seen the pure glee in their faces as they danced in the rain, you would have had a hard time telling them to stop too. True, it's possible that they may catch a cold and they were probably freezing their butts off for the rest of the afternoon, but they were all so happy in the moment that I couldn't resist just taking pictures of them and laughing at their delight.
Days like today remind me that sometimes teens are more insightful than adults and they know how to take advantage of great opportunities for fun when they present themselves. And to me, I'd rather have them get soaking wet playing in the rain than causing trouble elsewhere after school. I've learned to pick and choose my battles. :)

~Natalie

Pro Bowl Recycling Project

Our last major event of last weekend was the Pro Bowl Recycling Project. Aliamanu LITs teamed up with LITs from clubs all over the island to work together to collect cans and bottles from fans tailgating in the parking lot. The proceeds will be split among the clubhouses as a fundraiser.

"The Pro Bowl Recycling Drive was awesome. I met so many people like Jonathan who was helping give the trash bins to us and he was a good friend. The best part was sorting bottles and cans so we didn't have to walk around all day through the whole lower lot. Once we were done with nearly two hours of sorting, I felt so tired and could barely walk. Everyone else was tired too--we all fell asleep on the bus ride home. When the day was finished, I was relieved but I felt good also." ~Branden W.
"When I was at the Pro Bowl game it was so much fun because we passed out paper bags to random people to recycle cans and bottles." ~Kawehi
"During our recycling project we collected cans from people who were tailgating at the Pro Bowl. Even though it rained and it was messy, it was fun. In the end I think we raised a lot of money by collecting the cans. Also I think it was fun to just hang out with others." ~Shantae
"This weekend we went to a sleepover. It was fun. The next day we had a recycling project. A lot of people helped. We went around and asked people if they would help. Then it rained on us. By the time the rain stopped we were all wet. It was a lot of work! When we got on the bus a few people fell asleep!" ~Gabby C.

Aliamanu & Spalding Teen Sleepover

The night before our big recycling project at the Pro Bowl, the Aliamanu & Spalding staff decided that it'd be fun to let the teens have a group sleepover. Rob hosted the event at the teen center, and it was a great way for the two groups of youth to meet each other and be ready to work side by side the next day. I debated sharing all the details of the night, but it was so hilarious, and the youth wrote wonderful blogs about it, so I had to include it on the Blogspot for the sake of historical reference. Because basically, this night will go down as one of the best ever for the LIT program. :)

Read on to hear two different accounts of the night! (One from the girls' perspective and one from the boys!)

"When I arrived at Spalding Clubhouse, I played foosball with Justice. I also played Dance Central with Gabby. Then I watched the Spalding boys play a video football game. After, me, Natalie, Justice, Alvin, Branden, Gabby, Shantae, Davion, Savannah, and Kawehi played a fun game of basketball. Then we went upstairs to the music room and played three games. The three games were "Truths," "Colors," and "How Well Do You Know Your Friend." After we all went downstairs inside the gym for a challenging game of dodge ball. Later it was dinner time. We decided to walk over to Zippy's and buy some delicious food with Natalie. When we finished our supper, we watched a funny movie called The Other Guys. When the movie was over, Rob told us some scary stories of the clubhouse and the rules for hide and seek. It was scary because it was really dark and silent. When the awesome game of hide and seek was over, we went to our rooms. In the girls' room we talked and played card games. Then we had an idea to prank the boys. We sneaked quietly into their room and drew on their faces, arms and legs. We also put frosting and cupcakes on them! We returned to our rooms, laughed, talked and went to sleep late!" ~Huni P.

"On Saturday at 5:00pm, I arrived at the Spalding Clubhouse to get ready for a sleepover. We did a lot of games till we went to sleep at midnight. So once everyone started to arrive, we played basketball. It was boys against girls. It was so much fun! Then we went to the performing arts studio to play games. Then after we played dodgeball. We split up into two teams, Aliamanu vs. Spalding...Aliamanu always lost! After we played dodgeball we went to buy our dinner. Some of us went to Jack in the Box and some went to Zippy's. I remember Shantae borrowed my money. After we bought our food, we watched a movie called "The Other Guys." That movie was funny and weird!

So after we watched the movie, we played hide-n-seek. Our first hiding spot was in the performing arts studio. I remember when we were running inside the performing arts studio, we ran in the back and then Savannah bumped into the chair rack. But then when we were talking so loudly, we heard this noise, and the door shook very loud, and then we ran at the end of the corner and we were huddling up with Miss Natalie and while Miss Dani was standing and hiding right next to the cabinet. Dani was like "What was that!?" So Natalie told us that we should go back to the teen center, so we ran to the teen center so then once we came downstairs, the people who were "it" found us. So we were the first ones out, and we were still shouting and running to the teen center. So Shantae and Huni were now "it." Our second hiding spot was under the big table with all these boxes and supplies. We were hiding under the tables for like 30 minutes and then during the 30 minutes, I remember that everyone was on the phone and I remember that I said "I need to pee!" and I was so scared! But maybe that wasn't me who said all that...it was my twin brother...haha! So while we were waiting we were all found by Mr. Rob. Rob told Huni and Shantae to "stay" and then stayed in their hiding place in the shower. And then Mr. Rob totally messed up and confused everyone! Oh, and Mr. Franz was hiding in the same room with us, but he was hiding on the other side of the corner. So Alvin and Jin are now it, and our third hiding spot was in the classroom. I was hiding by the cabinet and and the rest of the group was hiding under the tables at the other corner. So when Jin and Alvin came in the classroom, I was rolling and crawling under the table. But once they came here, they have already found so I was the first one out. But when they asked me if I was alone, I lied and said I was, but really there were Aliamanu people hiding in there too. So I ran back to the teen center until everyone got caught. And then when the game was over it was me and Chapman's turn to be it, so we just found everybody.

So after the game, we started to go to bed, but everyone was like "No way, we don't want to go to sleep! Can't we play just one more game?" but then we went to bed after midnight. So Mr. Franz, Alvin and I were the only ones awake, while everyone else was sleeping. I was looking at the ceiling and there was a drawing of a clown that really creeped me out. But then I started making Alvin go to sleep by singing him a song, it went like this: "Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep little evil" hahaha! Once Alvin went to sleep, I was starting to fall asleep. Once we went to sleep, the door was opened and the girls came in very quiet and they had pulled a prank on us. We woke up and I saw Alvin's forehead and there was "Hi" written on it. I had something on my palm and it was filled with frosting. The rest of the girls were putting cupcake icing on all of the boys who were sleeping. So we all woke up and went to see the girls and I was sure they were acting so innocent. They planned to do this while Dani, Bri and Natalie were sleeping. (Side Note: We weren't asleep! That's what we convinced the boys!) So I had fun at the sleepover!" ~Justice M.

"...Then when we were all sleeping the girls put frosting on all of us! I was like "What is this?" the I licked it and went back to sleep." ~Alvin M.

As you can see, the kids had a great time. Rest assured that they were supervised the whole time and that everyone was safe! It was obvious that the sleepover brought the whole group together much closer and everyone loves retelling stories from their fun night. Needless to say, the staff had to function on less than an hour of sleep the next day--but it was worth it for all the laughs!
~Natalie

NFL Pro Bowl Clinics at Kapiolani Park!

Last weekend the Pro Bowl came to town and the Boys & Girls Club was lucky enough to participate in some pretty awesome events! Saturday morning Aliamanu took 30 youth to Kapiolani Park for a football & cheerleading clinic. Check out what everyone had to say about it! It's fun to see how all the kids had their own unique, memorable experiences.

"On Saturday from 8:30am-12:30pm we went to the Pro Bowl clinic at Kapiolani Park in Waikiki. We had this obstacle course for football. And, while we played football, the NFL players signed our tee shirts. We had so much fun! I had a great time! We ran and we played hard!" ~Justice M.
"I did running drills and passing drills. I got a shirt and a bag and water bottle. Also, I got the players autographs. I was really fun and exciting!" ~Jimmy G.

"Cheerleading was fun but the sun was scorching! I liked yelling even though the cheers were weird. When the cheerleaders autographed my shirt it tickled. We sang in the bus on the ride home and it sounded horrible but it was fun!" ~Maria M.

"Hey, this is Courtney! I had so much fun at the NFL Clinic. I did the football part. Let me tell you, it was FUN! There were 4 stations to do, free gatorade and people in the NFL and we got their autographs!! I had fun and I hope we do something like that again." ~Courtney N.
"The Pro Bowl clinic was really fun. I did cheerleading and I had to yell a lot so my voice was hoarse the next day. I learned two cheers which were super cool. And I got to see cute boys play football...hehe! It was really fun!" ~Heather F.

"The football clinic was fun and I saw 5 NFL football players. I remembered the Miami Dolphins and the Atlanta Falcons. We had 4 types of places to play at such as football drills. At the end we got cool bags and tee shirts." ~Nico D.

"My favorite part was meeting the players. We got to play with them and throw the football and after we got cool bags and cool pictures with them and they signed our shirts too!" ~Erinne D.

"The NFL Clinic was awesome! I met Devon Bess, he was my favorite player and I always used to look up to him. I also got souvenirs like a Play 60 bag and a water bottle. It was awesome. I hope we do the clinic again." ~Branden W.

"At the Pro Bowl I chose the cheerleading. It was fun but it got a little confusing because they went fast. I got a free bag and a water bottle! Also I got some autographs from the cheerleading. My favorite part was when me, Carole and the kids were taking pictures." ~Kiana M.
"The Pro Bowl clinic was very fun. We had to do a lot of fun activities. The first thing that we had to do was that we had to put on the bands and then we had to wear these tee shirts and then after that we played a lot of games that kept us active and in shape. And then after all those games we got a bag with a bottle. Then we got to meet football players. It was fun!" ~Ariitema V.

"There was a coach that challenged me to do the Dougie! One of the NFL players chose me to play catch. When the coach threw the ball I ran to catch it but fell and slipped in front of everybody! I had fun though!" ~Melysa K.

"Pro Bowl was fun. We learned 3 new cheers. Overall I was tired but yet I had a good time with the Boys & Girls Club. Hopefully this will happen again next year because I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed tumbling and doing the splits again. It felt good to flex out, lol!" ~Carole A.
"The football clinic was fun and a good experience. When I arrived at Kapiolani Park, we got some super cool tee shirts. Then we went into our lines. So we waited for a while, then the fun began. We played games like walking in these squares, running around cones, throwing footballs and pulling the other team's flags. After we played all the awesome activities, we ate lunch, rested and left. What a great day I will never forget! :)" ~Huni P.

To see all the photos from the event, visit our Picasa Album!

Healthy Treats for No-Bake Cooking

In our no-bake cooking program, Dani's been teaching the youth how easy it is to make snacks and small meals instead of always eating out. This week they made one of their favorites--smoothies! Everyone loved them!

"Oh wow! The smoothies are mmm mmm good! But the bananas made it have a funny after taste. Just a little! But they were still good. Especially the BEFORE taste...haha! I'm silly. We should do this again. Maybe I can bring my own things to put in it!" ~Sarah G.
"That was so much fun! It was delicious and tasty! Most of all yummy for our tummy. It's healthier than going to McDonald's." ~Melysa K.

"The smoothies were delicious. I think they could've had more strawberry though!" ~Heather F.
"The smoothie was very delicious and I really enjoyed it. I hope to make more next time." ~Arii V.

"This was so much fun because we got to make smoothies with our friends. And it's healthier than McDonald's!" ~Dominic D.
"The smoothies were very delicious. Yummy and healthy with bananas, strawberries and there was even yogurt and milk. It makes your yummy tummy feel good!" ~Justice M.

Power Hour Pays Off!

Philip's hard work during Power Hour is really paying off!

"I got my prize for being in Power Hour every day and gaining up points to get a new backpack. When I saw my bag I was like, 'Whoa, that's really cool!'"