Beacons goes GOPHERS!

Before fall session we had the opportunity to take some lucky young people attend the University of MN Gopher Football game! YMCA Beacon sites Nelly Stone Johnson, Anne Sullivan/ Anishinabe, and Sheridan visited the U of MN (Twin Cities) YMCA. All the young people got chance to meet Minnesota YMCA President and CEO Harold Mezile, Beacons Network Director Jenny Collins, TurningProCareers President and CEO Robert Velasco, Firefighter Captain Derek and numerous inspirational adults. The youths were excited to meet all these amazing adults who came from all over the United States to make this happen.
After fun ice breakers, the young people had the chance to "speed network" during their yummy lunch. During the end of the interview, all the youths were given a mathemathematical question to answer, and in exchange for their answer they recieved a gift from Rob, and got a Gopehers t-shirt to show their spirit. Pumped and ready to go, everyone helped cleaned.

Some fun with the fraternities and sororities.

Going into the crowd with almost 50,000 attendees!

The marching band and cherleaders entertained us with the opening.

Enjoying the game and rooting for the GOPHERS!

Out to get some refreshments.

Back at the University YMCA and ready to go home.

Beacons Talent Show 2011

Hello Blog friends!

Thursday, May 12th was the Sheridan Beacons Talent Show!!
For those of you who couldn't make it, here are some of our photos from the night.

Shane & Marcelette welcomed people to the show. We had a big turnout! There were lots of families, friends and supporters of our Beacons youth.

While the crowd walked in to take their seats, our youth performers waited anxiously. Here are some of them waiting for the show to start.

Then it was time to start the show. Our lovely hosts Hamza & Queen kept the show moving.

John performed a song by Big Time Rush

Lisa sang a song by Faith Hill

Chayla, Jamirah & Chalon sang and danced to Justin Bieber

Deja sang some Taylor Swift

Brenda & Yajaira sang to Bruno Mars

Youa played "My Heart Will Go On"

Solar showed their smooth dancing skills

Who even knows what these goofballs are up to...

The Sesame Street Crew

Bertrand closed out the show singing Justin Bieber. The crowd LOVED it!

After the show, some of the little kids got on the stage to show off their moves.

Families got a chance to learn about Day Camp and Overnight Camp options for the summer.

Here are some photos of everyone hanging out after the show

Then, it was time to clean up. We took down all the decorations and packed up all the supplies.

Shout out to Ron the engineer for helping us get everything prepared and cleaned up!

So that's it for the SBC Talent Show 2011. We'll see you all there next year!!

Getting Ready for Beacons Winter Session

Hello Beacons friends!! Yesterday, Sheridan Beacons hosted our fellow Beacons centers for training. Our friends came from the Sullivan/Anishinabe Beacon and the Nellie Stone Johnson Beacon.

Here are some of the things we did...

We played Minute to Win It, where participants are given a challenge and they have to complete it within 60 seconds to earn a point. Some of the challenges were:

The Chocolate Unicorn - stack 7 snack cakes on your forehead with only one hand!


Noodling Around - pick up 5 penne pasta noodles with one dry spaghetti noodle...using only your mouth.


Hanky Panky - pull out every single kleenex out of a box, using only one hand.
We had some very talented teams, so the competition ended in a tie breaker. So we decided to settle the score with a good old fashioned napkin eating contest.
Our groups also took a photographic tour of sheridan..

They stopped in the gym to warm up for greatness:



Then they stopped in the auditorium for a little dance party:


After that, they stopped in at the fireplace backdrop for a family picture:



Finally, the group got to take a picture however they wanted in the castle. Here's what they came up with:




We are so excited for Winter Session!!

See you all soon!

-Beacons