CAP

Group Info

CAP

Maryville, Missouri

Oct 01, 2008

Shelly Robertson

NWMSU Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (HPERD)

Dr. Alice Foose, Dr.Sue Myllykangas

Nodaway County Middle Schools

empowerment

health

The middle school students at Saint Gregory’s in Maryville, Missouri, noticed that they had very limited options when it came to places to hang out with their friends in the community. They decided they would establish a place they could utilize after school or on weekends to spend time with other kids their age from Maryville and surrounding areas.

To begin the project they had to apply for a Jump Starters grant through Heartland Foundation and funded by Learn and Serve America.

The students made a plan for the Cool Awesome Place or C.A.P. for short. C.A.P. would essentially be an upgraded community center focusing on middle school students. The students utilized the PhotoVoice method which has three main goals: to enable people to record and reflect their community’s strengths and concerns; to promote critical dialogue and knowledge about issues through large and small group discussions of photographs; and to reach policy makers.

The students went throughout their community and found places that interested them and wrote what activities that location had to offer. They used the writings they created and the photographs they took to create a presentation. They also sent surveys to students at the middle schools in the area to find out what they would be interested in having available to them. Surveys were also sent out to parents to find out what they would be comfortable with and what ideas they had.

After the students gathered their information and created their presentation, they invited students from the surrounding schools, as well as multiple community leaders to a banquet in which they presented their ideas. The banquet was very hands on and the students had small discussion groups with some community leaders while other community leaders talked with students about policy making.

The main goal of the Cool Awesome Place is to create a safer environment for youth to hang out, without being negatively pressured by older students. It will be an ongoing project but what the students have accomplished already will greatly benefit their community and the surrounding areas.

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