7th and 8th Graders: Y'all Come!

Monday, August 17, 2009

They've been knocking on the door for years, eagerly awaiting the day when they would be eligible to spend their after-school hours at the Collings Teen Center. For West Sacramento's 7th and 8th grade students, that day arrives on Aug. 26 – when the CTC opens up its After-School Drop-In program to middle-schoolers for the first time.

"We won't ever eliminate or diminish our programming for high-school students," said Don Bosley, CTC's executive director. "But with the tremendous facilities and location that we have at CTC, we've all sensed for some time that we needed to open our doors to the middle-schoolers as well."

CTC's After-School Drop-In program has been in place for high-school students since 2004. But in the past two years, the city has seen broad changes within the Washington Unified School District – including the move of River City High School to its new Southport campus and the dissolution of Golden State Middle School in favor of K-8 elementary schools.

Geographically, those changes have pushed much of the high-school population farther away from CTC's Merkley Avenue location, but simultaneously brought many middle-school students within closer proximity.

"The people of this community came together years ago and gave us these 12,000 square feet full of pool tables, basketball courts, classrooms, ping-pong tables, computer labs, video-game decks, and everything else a youth center could possibly want," said Bosley. "In our mind, we've got a great opportunity and responsibility to embrace as many young people as we can with it."

The After-School Drop-In program runs from 2-6 p.m. every school day, and includes a free hot meal through CTC's Late Lunch program.

Bosley also announced that CTC was rolling out new programming for 2009-10, including Second Mile, an incentives-based empowerment strategy. Students earn virtual "wages" by engaging in community service or attending workshops for life skills, job skills, money management, or computer literacy. Those virtual "wages" can then be spent on enrichment opportunities – such as snow trips and sporting events – or used to buy merchandise like laptop computers and video-gaming systems.

Teen Center Returns to its Grass Roots with Hiring of Don Bosley as Executive Director

Monday, August 3, 2009

West Sacramento native Don Bosley, who was part of the first early efforts to bring a teen center to the city more than a dozen years ago, came full circle in that passion this week when he was named the Collings Teen Center's new executive director.

Bosley replaces John Jordan, who stepped down as executive director in June. Bosley had worked as Jordan's director of community relations since last fall.

"Somehow it just seems fitting that Don be the guy who steps into this vacancy," said Gary Fox, executive director of Campus Life Connections, the non-profit that administers the teen center. "Don and his wife Melody were some of the people who first came to us many years ago and asked for help in putting a teen center in West Sacramento. They had a hand in building this ship, and now they'll be steering it."

A sports and feature writer for The Sacramento Bee for 22 years, Bosley has been involved in various facets of youth mentoring, empowerment and ministry since the mid-1990s. Fox also cited the Bosleys' deep connections in the community as a great benefit: Melody's father, Errol Summy, was a longtime educator in West Sacramento and the former principal of both Washington and River City high schools, and Don's father, Donald R. Bosley, is a recognized West Sacramento businessman and property owner.

"Because of the deep passion of people like John Jordan and (former executive director) Dave Dove, the Collings Teen Center is healthier and more relevant in the lives of West Sacramento teenagers than it has ever been," Bosley said. "Day by day, those guys have earned the center a great name in this city. They've set the table for us, and now we're going to invite more and more kids to that table."

The teen center will re-open for after-school drop-in on Aug. 26, the first day of school in the Washington Unified School District.