A picnic one day in June...

On June 25th, YAC members Andrew and Erin, and SPNN Youth staff Nicola, Peter, and Erika, all headed over to Mears Park. There, we ate a picnic lunch, and talked about where YAC has been this past year, and where it is going. We talked about the highs and lows of last year which included the Science Museum field trip and SPNN Open House (highs), spotty YAC meeting turnout (low), and the Mind over Media Curriculum (both high and low). We discussed some things we’d like to change for the coming year. The consensus was that folks would like a faster pace of projects, a variety of hands on projects, and clear goals set at the beginning of the year that we stick to.

Then we talked about an idea we’ve been considering for a while to boost attendance and commitment; it would involve YAC members applying to be members, selecting 10, and then paying YAC members a monetary stipend for their commitment. After some back and forth, everyone seemed to think it would be a good idea – a good way to get people to consistently come, not have to prioritize jobs over YAC, and be appreciated for their contributions. Peter and Nicola will think some more about how to make this work and get back with y’all on this topic in the coming months. Rest assured, anyone currently involved with YAC will continue to have a place at the table.

We also talked about ways that YAC members could have a presence at other classes at SPNN. Some ideas included having YAC members come in on the last day of classes to promote YAC, having YAC members present their work at a class – like a guest speaker, and having YAC members take on helping to run SOL.

We will have two more meetings this summer before we return to our every-other week schedule. In July we will be planning an “End of Summer” youth media screening at SPNN. And, in August, we will be sprucing up the media lab to make it a little more youth friendly. Hope you can make it to both of these meetings. They will be on July 30th and August 27th from 11:30-1PM at SPNN. See you then!

-Nicola