Boys & Girls Club future ready
- Fairbury News staff
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Wednesday’s Great Futures Breakfast in Fairbury looked to the future.
A crowd filled the Stafford Community Center gym during the annual Boys & Girls Club event to raise awareness of the organization locally.
An update was given on the new Intergenerational Center which is under construction along Seventh Street. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for Friday, May 23 with the center expected to be open this summer to serve both youth and seniors in the community. The current club facility will eventually become a teen center.
CEO Jodi Martin thanked everyone for coming to support the youth. She also thanked Sue Popejoy for all of her efforts with the club along with sponsors and donors. Martin noted they will experience some budget cuts from not getting federal grants.
“We will persevere, we are future ready,” said Martin. “It takes a village to raise responsible, caring citizens.”
Prairie Central Superintendent Paula Crane and Brian Quam, the incoming superintendent, gave a district update.
Crane feels the district and the Boys & Girls Club have always worked well together.
“We have a team of really great thinkers and problem solvers,” observed Crane.
Crane referenced the recent passage of the referendum, saying they are at the beginning stages of planning a new school. Input will be received from community members, staff and parents about the new PK-4 building which is planned. The first phase of the project could take a year with two years after that to actually build the school.
“Thank you to everybody that supported that,” said Crane.
Quam talked about his background in education, which includes serving as a social studies teacher, coach and former principal at El Paso-Gridley. He has worked as a high school dean, elementary principal and curriculum director at Prairie Central.
“I’m very blessed, very excited and humbled to work with all of you.”
Quam officially starts the superintendent job on July 1.
Ray Popejoy updated the group on the Wi-Fighterz high school robotics team which just finished its sixth season.
“We are really looking forward to next year,” explained Popejoy. “We are going to have a lot of returnees hopefully.”
The team begins a worldwide competition to create a robot each January. This robot must be capable of performing certain tasks. The competition is different each year with a different theme. This year’s underwater theme meant the robot must load coral onto a reef.
They competed at Peoria and Cedar Falls, Iowa where they ended up making the finals.
“Our team is really young, but they really performed at a high level,” stated Popejoy.
Leslie King described Camp Confidence, which is about building confidence in the lives of young people. This includes programs for three weeks, three days and three hours at the Community Connection Center in Chatsworth for all area school districts.
Those attending the Great Futures Breakfast also heard from the Youth of the Year winners.
Harper E. is the Junior Youth of the Year. She has attended the Boys & Girls Club since 2021 and likes to draw. Harper’s favorite thing about the club is helping younger kids.
Lindsay H. is the Senior Youth of the Year. The Pontiac Township High School senior has been attending the club since fifth grade. Lindsay is involved with the Livingston Area Career Center’s Early Childhood Education and Work Study programs. Lindsay is in the National Technical Honor Society and a is a model student at her high school.
Comments