Solar Youth completes another successful Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride!!  This year Solar Youth was out in full force with 16 youth participants, all of whom successfully completed the 8 mile family ride from Common Ground High school to East Rock Park!!!  On their journey SY Stewards biked through scenic Edgewood Park, listened to music, ate snacks at the rest stops, enjoyed the peacefulness of Beaver Pond, witnessed a tree planting, and rode with hundreds of other New Haven residents who share the vision of a greener healthier New Haven! 

Overall the Day was a huge success with 1,100 riders, 16,675 miles traveled, 100 + volunteers, and over $148,535 raised to make our community healthier! Thank you to all the organizers who helped make this amazing event possible and all those who rode with/for the Solar Youth team!!!

Special thanks to Chris Randall of ilovenewhaven.org for taking some amazing shots(above) at Rock to Rock! Check out the rest of Chris Randall's Rock to Rock albums HERE and the rest of Solar Youth's photos HERE! For more information about the Rock to Rock Earth Day Ride, check out their website HERE!

Solar Youth wraps up another successful all staff training!  At the beginning of each season, Solar Youth high school Interns and adult Educators complete a 2-3 week intensive all staff training and retreat.  During the training Interns and adult Educators are trained together on non-violent communication, safety protocols, teambuilding/leadership skills, behavior management, financial literacy, and group facilitation.  The goal of the training is to prepare the Interns and adult Educators for the beginning of program as well as to create a space for them to collaborate together.  Through the lessons and teambuilding activities, Interns and adult Educators get to know each other, form bonds, build trust, and grow together as a team.

This years training was cut short due to the snow during Nemo, however in classic Solar Youth style, everyone rallied to make it all work! Here are some photos highlighting our journey together!  Thanks to everyone who helped to make this training possible!  We would especially like to thank Public Allies for providing space for us to use and Start Community Bank and Community Mediation for providing great workshops on financial literacy and nonviolent communication!

Here are a few highlights of the training…

Interns learning some classic Solar Youth Songs and Games!!!

One of the most unique things Solar Youth does is train all of adult Educators and Interns in non-violent communication! 

Interns playing a teambuilding game where they have to work together without talking to make it across the room without touching the ground.  They were given about 10 wooden blocks to help them on their journey, however there were hungry wood eating sharks in the water that kept the Interns on their toes!  It took some determination, a lot of laughter, and several tries, but they all made it across!!!

Another teambuilding game, Tallest Tower, where Interns are given a bunch of random materials and race to see who can build the talles tower!

Guess what this is..... A teambuilding activity!!!  Pass the Pitcher, where youth have to pass a pitcher all the way around their circle without using their hands! 

Not everything we do at Solar Youth is a game, but if we can we do our best to turn it into one!  As an organization that focuses on Positive Youth Development Solar Youth tries to incorporate the multiple intelligences in everything we do, even staff training!  This means that our Interns might create a rap song about gun safety and fire protocol or put on a skit for the group about behavior management.  Overall this years training was great!  Thanks again to Public Allies for the space and for Community Mediation and Start Community Bank for their great workshops! 

Solar Youth completes another successful season of Winter Explorers!  Winter Explorers is a program provided during the winter months in Westville Manor for ages 7-14 to cultivate a love and appreciation for winter! 

This season our Stewards hiked through the snow, learned how to identify animal tracks, and spent snow days sledding at a nearby hill! Youth also took trips to the Peabody Museum, an ice fishing workshop, and ended the season with a big Ice Skating trip! And of course, it wouldn't be Winter Explorers without Hot Cocoa Talk, a Solar Youth tradition!

Check out highlights from the season below!!!

Stewards took snowy hikes to Lake Wintergreen and learned how to stay comfortable in the cold weather.

Winter Explorers LOVE to sled!!!

Winter Explorers celebrated Martin Luther King Jr Day by attending and performing at the MLK Environmental and Social Justice Event at the Peabody Museum!  

At the museum Stewards had the opportunity to explore exhibits, play games, make crafts, attend an open mic, and watch performances by local dance groups in the dinosaur room!  As a Solar Youth tradition our Stewards took to the stage and performed on the drums!  Another SY Steward, Rakema(top right), read her poem about Martin Luther King at the Poetry Slam!  Special thanks to the Peabody Museum for providing such an amazing opportunity for our youth.

Rakemas Poem

The name Martin Luther Kind Jr. makes me think of
People like Black and White
In school together

I can be more like Martin Luther King Jr. if I
Help other people

One thing we can do to make the world more peaceful is
Go to the President
And say to People
Stop the Violence

Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud of me because
I am being my own Character 

Stewards learned to Ice Fish at the Ice Fishing workshop put on by C.A.R.E (CT Aquatic Resource and Education)! Stewards learned all about fishing licenses, regulations, how to dress when Ice Fishing, what tools to bring, how to catch fish, how to know if the ice is safe to walk on, and of course how to have fun on the ice!!!! Special thanks to New Haven Parks and Rec for making this workshop possible.

Winter Explorers Celebrated the completion of another fantastic season by going ice-skating!

For more photos of Winter Explorers 2013 click HERE.

Our youth constantly amaze us with their can-do attitude and their desire to be of service to their communities.  So when Westville Manor Leaders-in-Training decided to do an “extra C-SAP” to help New Haven recover from Hurricane Sandy,  we just sat back at let them do their thing.

After talking to a few New Haven residents, the youth decided that the work that still needed to be done were in the parks – trails had still not been cleared, and it was difficult for them to embark on some of their favorite hikes.  So we enlisted the support of the West Rock Trail Association, who by chance was heading into the park to clear trails that very week.

So the youth dragged themselves out of bed at the crack of dawn and met Tom Ebersold, one of WRTA’s superstar volunteers at the entrance into the park.  The beginning of the trail didn’t look too bad – the youth cleared fallen branches and loose stones and tossed them deep into the woods.  A quarter mile in, they hit their first big obstacle – a red oak that had been uprooted by strong winds and fallen directly across the trail that they used regularly to get to Judge’s Cave.

The youth went over safety procedures one more time, including the “CIRCLE OF DEATH”, the aptly named circumference that must be maintained around people who are using sharp tools.  Then they rolled up their sleeves, picked up the hand saws, and started the arduous, back breaking work of sawing the tree into small logs that they could move off the trail.

It took nearly 30 minutes, but with a loud CRACK, they finally finished the last cut and continued up the trail.

Along the way, Tom stopped to show youth how to identify invasive species during the winter months when they’ve lost their leaves – such as the autumn olive, which wraps around trees and prevents healthy growth.

By the time the morning was through, all the volunteers were sweaty and exhausted.  They cleared two miles of trail and cleared three full-grown trees!  Wow!  Thanks Leaders in Training!