Learn 2 Skate Day 10: Student of the Month

Monica, a third grader, holds up her Student of the Month Certificate

If youth development organizations like DinoMights want to make a real difference in the lives of community kids have to realize a few things:

1) They are only with you for a small percentage of the week.
2) They are at School and Home most of the time.
3) Therefore, the real impact of a youth development organization will be greater if the organization partners with families and schools.

We had a special treat today at Greg Carroll Learn 2 Skate. It was Student of the Month Day at Green Central. We knew that Monica, a third grader in DinoMights, would be one of the recipients of the Student of the Month Award. Yesterday when we asked her mom if she could help the first graders at Learn 2 Skate, her mom said that she could come to help as long as she would be back at school in time for the award ceremony.

So when we dropped Monica off at school after she was done helping out, we decided to go to the Student of the Month Award Ceremony too. As it turned out about 6-8 of the first graders that just finished learning to skate with us over at Augsburg Ice Arena were also receiving the prestigious honor.

Student of the Month Monica helps carry skate bags at Greg Carroll Learn 2 Skate

To top it off, on the way out of the school we ran in to one of the classrooms walking through the hall. Their jaws dropped as if to say, "Hey what are you doing at school? I usually only see you at skating!" So it was a really fun day. It was our treat not only to serve the kids of our community at Learn 2 Skate, but also to be a part of the community celebrating the academic success of DinoMights and Learn 2 Skaters alike.

First Graders running into the DinoMights staff after the Student of the Month Award Ceremony

Part of the powerful thing about DinoMights is that we are a partner to the local schools. This whole Learn 2 Skate project is a collaboration with local schools. It works because we have some common interest, and we combine our resources to produce something that neither of us could produce alone.