To say that Kids’ Club donors have touched the lives of this year’s graduating class of SHHS seniors would be an understatement! When Kids’ Club launched in June 2009, the Class of 2023 had not even begun formal schooling yet, but many of the students already were benefiting from Kids’ Club supported programs, and that access to opportunity will have continued up until their high school graduation on June 22. Because of the generosity of our donors, Kids’ Club has been able to help enrich, encourage and educate these students for 14 years, and we are so excited to see what they will achieve next!
Kids’ Club directors were excited to meet with a group of first generation college bound seniors at Sleepy Hollow High School on May 31st to talk about their paths to college and the different programs that touched their lives and helped them achieve their goals. These programs included those that gave basic needs supports (e.g., food and clothing), to enriching after school arts programs and summer camps that kept the students busy and safe when their parents were working outside the home, academic programs that helped foster confidence in their abilities and helped them believe in their futures, and practical technological and college prep supports that helped even the playing field as these students competed for college acceptances against others whose families had more familiarity with the application process.
Specifically, among just the quartet of students we met, we learned that, collectively, they had benefited from more than 25 programs that received Kids’ Club funding. That is quite an impact! Without these supports, one has to wonder if their journeys would have been as successful and personally rewarding. For example, without access to working laptops donated by Kids’ Club to Warner Library, would some of the students’ grades have suffered, impacting their dreams of becoming, for two, a nurse or a computer scientist? Would the two other students be on their way to Bowdoin and Marist if they had not had encouragement and guidance from Hudson Scholars and Latino U College Access? Where would any child be who was food insecure and didn’t have the Community Food Pantry to fall back on when necessary?
So, as we celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2023, we also acknowledge the programs which supported them along the way, and the caring and generous people of our community who helped make those programs accessible to even more wonderful kids. Thank you, donors, and best of luck to the graduates!