What do Dragon Eggs and Directors Have in Common?

April 2024 | by Team Up 

On the last Mentor Night of March, our elementary kiddos dyed their very own Easter eggs. But not just any eggs… Dragon eggs! With enough dye laid out for a thousand eggs, the kids hopped into their creative minds and quickly got to coloring. Not only did they get to design and color their eggs, but they also had the chance to eat them! Some kids were more excited than others about this part of the night.

Our younger kiddos got the chance to become Feelings Detectives in one of our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) activities last month. Students practiced looking at someone’s face and body for clues about how they might be feeling. They each navigated through different cartoon pictures pointing out specific characteristics that made them believe the cartoon character was feeling a certain way.

It’s been a fun month at our Teen Leadership Academy! At our End of the Semester Auction last year, one of our teens purchased the ability to be “TLA Director for the Day.” Well, the day finally came for him to cash that in and wow! We had a blast!

At the beginning of the night, he kept looking to the adults for permission. However, as the night progressed, he began taking initiative and fully stepped into his leadership role. It was fantastic to watch his confidence grow minute-by-minute.

Our Director for the Day created a tournament bracket (March Madness style!) for games such as Fortnite, Air Hockey, Basketball, and Foosball. He even made sure that the winners had prizes and every one had snacks for the evening! What a fun way to see our teen rise to this leadership challenge.

What makes you feel loved?

January 2024 | by Team Up

Mentor Nights have resumed! After about a month off for the December holidays, our student attendance has already surpassed our 2023 average. Our teen academy welcomed 8 new students, helping to re-energize our staff and mentors. During these first 2 weeks back, our students have engaged in age-appropriate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) lessons, STEAM and PE activities (ever heard of basketball mini-golf?!), and have enjoyed some yummy meals together from our all-star Meal Donor team.

Through our Habitude Lessons, elementary students are learning that mistakes are okay, and our teens are learning about the real meaning of empathy. Our teens are creating collages for our shared “Empathy Wall,” something we’ll continue to add to in the coming weeks. Together with their mentors, our students are learning that empathy means we can meet people wherever they are and sit with them in whatever they are going through.

We were reminded that our students (particularly our teens) crave consistency. They need us to show up night after night for them, even if it doesn’t seem like there’s any noticeable difference. During one of our mentor nights this month, a teen mentioned to a mentor in passing that she noticed herself maintaining a positive attitude while at Team Up lately, a big shift from the rough go she experienced at the end of a semester last year. Small moments like this remind us of why we do what we do and why teens need us to stick with them through the good times and the bad.

Capturing Moments, Creating Memories: The Importance of Family Photos

April 2024 | By Anna Blount 

If you're like me, you probably spent part of your childhood at a grandparent's home where family photos from different generations had pride of place. Now, in our fast-paced digital age, where memories can easily be forgotten as we scroll through endless digital posts, the value of printed family photos cannot be overstated. Family photos are more than just images captured on paper – they are windows to the past, records of love and laughter, and reminders of the bonds that tie us together.

Family photos serve as time capsules, preserving moments that we hold dear. They freeze a moment in time, allowing us to look back and reminisce about the joyous occasions, the milestones achieved, and the journeys taken together. Here at Team Up, we take A LOT of photos. You may have stumbled across some of these on our social media pages, received a card with photos of kids and mentors faces squished together with big smiles. I promise you, these are only a very small fraction of the photos we have stored here at Team Up. 

This is important because here at Team Up, we serve families over a 12-18 year period and these snapshots of a moment bring back immediate memories of love, laughter, and achievements as children turn into young adults and laugh lines start to show on mentors and staff. We take a LOT of photos at Team Up, but this year we realized a dream we've had for a while: providing professional family portraits for our clients. 

This year, however, we finally realized a dream we’ve had for a while: providing professional family portraits for our clients. Luckily enough, we were able to partner with Photovation Elite to provide free professional family portraits to our families at Team Up. 

As the families sat down together on the big couch, adjusted one another’s shirts, listened to instructions from the photographer and giggled nervously – I couldn’t help but think of the photos in my grandparent’s home and the sense of history I got when looking at those family photos. By documenting our family stories through photos, we create a legacy that can be passed down through generations, helping future family members understand their roots and heritage. We wanted that for our Team Up families. 

In a world filled with distractions and constant motion, we sometimes need anchors that ground us in the present and connect us to our past. Family photos are more than just images – they are tangible expressions of love, laughter, and togetherness. So, let's not underestimate the power of a family photo. Take the time to capture these moments, cherish them, and let them serve as a reminder of the incredible gift that is family.