Happy Father's Day

We prepared for Father's Day a couple of weeks ago at the ECGYC.  Craft class produced these super cool cards based on this template.  A few of the non shy students are pictured above with their fantastic creations.  Did you make any fun crafts for Father's Day?   We hope you enjoyed it, whether face to face with father, or simply a good chat to lessen the long distance between.

Here's my card for you Dad!

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Image via rucraftblog

It will be a very long weekend in the Turks and Caicos Islands! Celebrations begin tomorrow in honor of the 60 year reign of Queen Elizabeth as the head of the Commonwealth.  Please visit the interactive timeline to learn more about the major moments in history since Elizabeth II took the crown at the early age  of 25. 

logo via thediamondjubilee.org

For craft class yesterday at the ECGYC we made crowns to mark the occasion.   I was concerned that these teenagers may not match my enthusiasm for this particular project, but much to my surprise, everyone went straight to work with their creative thinking caps!  We actually stayed overtime  applying the finishing touches and lettting the glue dry before taking some photos of our handiwork.

We hope you take some time this weekend to . . . . 

tedbaker tea towel via fbccinewsletter

Check out the TCI Schedule of events here and be sure to stop by island scoop

on Tuesday at 4pm!

ECGYC Environmental Clean-Up

The Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre finished their spring environmental program and celebrated by giving back to the community with a litter pick-up from the downtown area surrounding the centre.  Great job to all the kids who participated (and braved the mosquitoes who attacked us as we invaded their homes)! 

Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre Beach BBQ

 Bay Bistro image from wherewhenhow

Don't miss the annual edward-c-gartland-youth-centre beach BBQ!!!  There will be fantastic performances by the kids, live music, charity raffles, and an amazing meal by super chef Clive and team. Click here for all the details.

International Women's Day!

In celebration of internationalwomensday we created compliment bags for our project of the day at the ECGYC.  The girls had a great time decorating the bags and writing their very own inspirational messages and compliments for the lucky women they will choose to "fish" inside the bag.  Proof in the pudding that it is better to give than to receive.

A few great messages  (pictured right to left) you may want to pass along to the fantastic women in your life:

"Your face shines like the sun!"

"You ROCK . . . . everyday!"

"You just being here is God's gift to someone!"

"You make me believe in my education!"

"You have a heart of gold!"

Thank you to these young women at the center, you all make me so proud!

Black History Month at the ECGYC

The ECGYC has had a busy last four weeks celebrating  black-history-month.  In my arts and crafts class last Thursday we created these helpful hand reminders featuring inspirational messages meant to keep this months celebration in mind all year long.

The culmination of all the activities ended in a performance last Saturday evening at the ECGYC.  The opening national anthem was sung by Bernice Brown, followed by a beautiful Whitney Houston tribute, "The Greatest Love Of All," she delivered beautifully.

Three dancers from the Bowen Dance Academy performed a lovely piece that combined African, modern, and classic styles.

Following were the youth center dancers performing a high energy piece with Caribbean flair.

Guy Talk is a great program that started at the center last fall.  These two gentleman performed two different rap/poetry/written word pieces, one written free style just before show time!

Qwan Ki Do instructor and ECGYC volunteer Paul Ciurar then did a demonstration of the mixed martial art with his students, showing self defense tactics to the audience. 

The Drama Club then took the stage for a robust spoken word performance.

Drama Club leader/volunteer Alexis cheered her girls on from the sidelines then stepped up for her own incredible solo.  I have known Alexis for years and had no idea she was such a gifted writer and performer.  Her speech was insightful, humorous, honest, and full of soul.  Bravo Alexis!!!

The ECGYC dancers then took center stage to perform their very own choreographed Waka-Waka dance.

 The grand finale was executed by the fashion club, a popular program initiated by local fashion designer Kazz Forbes.

One of the activities for the students was to take a plain white t-shirt and re-envision it, make their own creative statement with something so seemingly simple.

Each of the girls got to strut their stuff in their design, as you can see, each one having unique detail.

Big thanks to all the kids who participated, all the generous volunteers who donate their time to TCI youth, and most of all for directors Charrish and Roxann for their tireless dedication and energy.

ECGYC Third Anniversary Party and TCI Red Cross Market Today

This evening please support our TCI youth at the Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre for their 3rd Anniversary Party.  I have had the great pleasure of witnessing many of their performances such as this over the last three years and they never disappoint.   Please see the press release below for more information.

Black History Performance

Captivated members of the audience during the Cultural Explosion Performance

"The Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre will be hosting an Open Evening and 3rd year anniversary party from 5-7pm on Saturday 12th November 2011. There will be complimentary tours of the Centre showcasing the wide range of activities the Centre has to offer; performances by youth centre members; a fashion show choreographed by our program director, Charrish Ferguson, along with an appearance by the amazing TCI Youth Chorale. Light refreshments will be provided and all members of the public are welcome. Please come out and lend your support to the Centre and let us show you all that has been accomplished since its opening on November 8th 2008. The Centre is located behind Butterfield Suppermarket between Shining Star School and the Community College, Downtown, Providenciales. For more information contact Director, Roxann Wake-Forbes on 331-9602 or via email Roxann@tciyouthcentre.tc.     We look forward to seeing you there!"



Also, be sure to stop by the TCI Red Cross Farmers Market for fresh local produce and a variety of goodies.  Last week I picked up sweet potatoes, cornmeal mix, and a pumpkin, all of which were delicious. 

Locally grown and handmade, think global and buy local!

National Youth Day 2011

  The Gustavus Lightbourne Sports Complex and the downtown ball park are full of energy at the moment, stop by and catch the fun!  Under the theme "Youth, Your Moment is Now" the National Youth Day celebration commenced at 8am this morning with a walk and will continue on through late this afternoon with a talent competition.  At my Tuesday frame making craft class at the tciyouthcentre all the kids were super excited for today's festivities.  Take a moment today to think about how you might be able to help TCI's Youth find their moment.  Give a smile, lend a hand, offer praise, and share your wisdom!

ECGYC Summer Success and Start of School

Rigal watching my demonstration, anxious to get his hands on the stapler and screwgun!

Way back last November we started the long process of sprucing up the Games Room at the ECGyouthcentre.  The process began with tie-dye-classes, which were followed by weeks and weeks of reupholstering and sewing classes in which we recovered ALL of the task chairs with our bright and beautiful dyed creations.

Next we decoupaged the two games table (shown center above) tops with pictures from the ECGYC and magazine imagery.  Now the well worn white finish looks like this:

And lastly we created a scratch art display to hang on the walls.

I think everyone was happy with the results and oh-so-ready to put the major undertaking behind us!   Now that the school year has started, Programs Director and all around artsy amazing, Charrish Ferguson, and I have started the fall class schedule.  First up- Rock Painting!

Our supplies and a pair of Charrish's ultra cool rock critters to act as samples

Students Rigal, Laquisha, Sabeen, Lucendi, Houda, Yandely, and Shanica getting started.

Sabeen's butterfly

Laquisha putting the finishing touches on her fish

Our critters crammed in our paper mache bowl for a group photo!  Houda even painted her paper plate!  Great job everyone, this class literally ROCKED!

TCI Shines and Earth Day

Photo by David Stone

"Please Help TCI Shine All Year Long!"  This was the TCI Environmental Clubs message for last Saturday's clean-up.  Big thanks to the artistic skills of several kids at the Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre. 

Photo by PepperKeyStacie

Participants in the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association's TCI Shines Campaign showed up bright and early at 6:30am at the Lower Bight Park.  Here are the teams and individuals we all have to thank for making Providenciales cleaner and greener:

  Much to my disappointment, after seeing 36 new volunteers sign-up at the Volunteer Fair and all 200 members of the TCI Environmental Club alerted via our facebook page, only ten of us turned up for this great initiative.  Unlike last year, where the event saw far more partipants, we were unable to meet our goal of 700 bags collected.  The good news is that for the very first time, we were able to separate recyclables from the litter, all of which was so generously collected by TCI Waste.  

Huge thanks to IGA and Graceway Gourmet for their Earth Day efforts

  Tomorrow is Earth Day, please get out there and Clean It Up and join our Campaign to Ban Single Use Plastic Bags in the TCI.  Lynn Robinson and I made note of how many plastic bags we collected over the 3 hours and tallied over 150 plastic bags removed during TCI Shines with just the two of us!  Please shop with thought and bring your own reusable bags, don't use a toxic plastic bag designed to last over 1,000 years for ten needless minutes and then throw it away to pollute our environment.  If you see someone littering in TCI, please educate them on why they shouldn't.  Let them know there will be a bottle deposit coming soon to a parking lot near them and to keep those beverage containers as they will be worth CASH!