Introducing Wissahickon Valley’s Keystone Club!

Wissahickon Valley is lucky to offer our middle school students a national Boys and Girls Club program – Keystone Club! This program provides members with responsibility, self respect and a sense of community through volunteer work and community involvement. To be a Keystone Club member is a privilege. With each community activity and service trip, the members earn an incentive trip! Incentive trips help our members understand that hard work plays off in more ways than one! Keystone Club runs for 8 weeks every Fall, Winter and Spring.

Keystone Club’s first Fall session at Wissahickon Valley was a success! Our members were able to visit a culinary school, play BINGO with a veteran, volunteer in the community and go on a college campus tour. Keystone Club helped beautify a new local grocery store by planting bulbs and collecting trash. With this particular opportunity, the kids felt a true sense of community and they even got to go shopping!

Our fall session also included a memorable college visit. Gwynedd Mercy University is a local university and although many students had driven past, they had no perception of what the campus was actually like. For most of the members, it was their first time visiting a college! After a short presentation providing information on the college application process, the kids took a campus tour! It was here where students came to the realization that attending college is a pretty awesome goal to have. As one student pointed out, “My mom won’t be at college to stop me from eating ice cream for breakfast!” Sparks ignited and the dream of going to college is now in full swing!

Because of the student’s responsibility and commitment to the club, they were able to vote on an incentive trip! It was a unanimous decision: Starbucks! We traveled down the street to Starbucks in Spring House where the kind staff helped each student order a signature Starbucks drink (decaf of course)! With good books in hand, the students relaxed while sipping their hard earned Frappuccinos!

We are looking forward to another successful Keystone Club session this winter. Keep an eye out for us around town!