My daughter is 14 (soon to be 15) and we are trying to figure out what to do with her for the summer.

I ran across these two books and I thought I would share them with the board.   A different approach instead of babysitting or working at Mickey D's.

If you have any ideas about other things teens can do please post.

We started a group for teen girls for after school and school breaks.  We have a group of girls get together and discuss different things about peer pressure, their academic future, sex, money, etc. We have speakers come to talk to them once a month. They put together presentations, business plans etc.

We have them visit different work environments. I have a bit of fun with it myself.

I am helping them to design a teen magazine...stuff to keep the wheels spinning and off of the superficial.

I have a fourteen year old daughter also. This is a difficult age for them. When I think about myself at fouteen I had a rough time...you know, skin, body image, boys...and that was then...The world now is so different. I think that they have triple the pressure that we had.

I will check those books out too.

The teen mag sounds cool.  Except my daughter hates to write.

Your teen group sounds a lot like the Delta Academy my daughter is involved in.  When I was younger I didn't like the idea of sororities but I have to give props to Delta Sigma Theta.  Next year she will be involved in the Delteens which I am looking forward to.

Definitely check out the Summer Opportunities.  There are a couple of summer programs we are waiting to hear from.  The book gave me leads to some but asking around helped me to find out about others.

• having her take summer classes at the next grade level (i.e. if she's in 8th grade now, having her take 9th grade English so she can move into honor's or A.P. Enlgish nxt year)
• get her involved in Upward Bound http://www.uc.edu/upwardbound/
• take her to Wilberforce http://www.wilberforce.edu/opencms/export/bulldog/home/home.html and Central State http://www.centralstate.edu/
• 
  

No, I am not, I'm from Akron.  However, I an still extremely concerned about the message that  has spread like a cancer through our black teenage community that black=dumb and if you are intelligent, then you are somehow "acting white"

having her take summer classes at the next grade level (i.e. if she's in 8th grade now, having her take 9th grade English so she can move into honor's or A.P. Enlgish next year)

If I can find some courses that she can take.  I was looking into her applying to Mount St. Joseph but since the deadline is tomorrow I don't think we are going to make it.  She's been busy with her play all week and she filled out the application didn't do the essay.

Congratulations on the play ( I was a thespian when I was young myself)

get her involved in Upward Bound http://www.uc.edu/upwardbound/

I tried that one last year.  Too many of her old classmates that she didn't like got into that and she decided she didn't want to go that route.

take her to Wilberforce http://www.wilberforce.edu/opencms/export/bulldog/home/home.html and Central State http://www.centralstate.edu

Are there classes she can take there? (Check it out online)

I found about these things on the Internet.

p.s. Check out my post Education=Prosperity

Thanks for the post.  I wish I had heard of it earlier because I might have considered it.  My daughter didn't get into the Smith program like she wanted so she's applying for one in AZ which is only a week but she gets to stay with my mom.

I hope more black girls take advantage of it  We need more of us repping in science and math.

GREETINGS

I WAS READING YOUR POST ABOUT THE UPWARDBOUND PROGRAM.  I WAS WONDERING IF YOU CAN DIRECT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION WHERE TO FIND OUT INFORMATION ON THIS PROGRAM. I LIVE IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA.  I HAVE CONTACTED THE SCHOOL BOARD IN MY COUNTY SEEM TO NOT KNOW ANY INFORMATION OF THIS PROGRAM.  IF YOU CAN EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AT SYNCERE_007@YAHOO.COM   I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR YOU TIME IN ADVANCE. 

Upward Bound is a great program. My sister did upward bound for a while, and when she got older she worked as a conselor. When I was in high school, I did the Science and Technology Program at NYU. And then I worked for the Liberty Partnership Program. All of these are youth organizations that do a variety of academic and non-academic activities during the year and in the summer.

I know my mother had a difficult time finding programs for me when I was growing up, so I recently wrote A BETTER TODAY BRINGS A BRIGHTER TOMORROW, which is a resource Guide documenting a variety of programs for students of color. The book also has a site, abt.msoyonline.com, which is soon to include an online directory of youth programs. Right now, I do have another online directory, with a Teens section. You might find something useful there.

Hope this helps,

LaShanda Henry