With some new gardening tech — and a revised mission plan — the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Danville Area is planting life lessons for the youth of the region. Gary Terry, the CEO of the after-school youth development organization, said when he was hired three years ago, the board wanted to take the club in a new direction.
"We answer to the community now," Terry explained to the Register & Bee on a recent Friday afternoon. The original goal was to get the children ages 5 to 18 to high school graduation. But, then they started looking at the community, and especially the labor force. "We thought getting them to high school graduation is not enough," he said. "We've got to prepare them for life after graduation."
That's why Terry launched Quad A to focus on four areas — that's where the "A" comes in — of artificial intelligence, arts, aeronautics and agriculture. Quad A is geared toward those 12 to 18 years old. After purchasing computers and music equipment, it launched about a year and a half ago.
For the AI portion, they have a new tech center and will soon start and e-sports team at the club. For the arts, they've partnered with the Danville Area Choral Arts Society and the Danville Symphony Orchestra where the children have performed in concerts.
The Civil Air Patrol helps cover the aeronautics aspects. For agriculture, eight new hydroponic tower systems not only expose students to the world of gardening, but it also mixes in entrepreneurship.
Read the entire article at Godan River