Cleaning Up

Starting a Flower Garden

The corner of Orleans and Chester Streets

Etiquette Dinner

On Friday August 15, 2008 we at Banner Neighborhoods Youth Program attended an Etiquette dinner at a restaurant titled Three. This restaurant is located on the corner of Linwood and Baltimore street. When we first walked in we all thought that the place looked amazing and was a great choice for us to have a dinner. We had outstanding service from our waitresses, they were on task and on top of everything, such as introducing what was on the menu, explaining what the foods were, always refilling our water cups, and being quite friendly. Most of the crew ordered the same meal which was jalapeno corn chowder and pork ribs with mashed potatoes or french fry shaped potatoes. After dinner the cooks came out and introduced themselves and asked how our meals were. I thought that was very nice of them to come out and introduce themselves the way they did. For desert we all ordered the mousse duo except for Andre who wanted to try sheep milk yogurt. After we finished desert we all sat around and talked for a little more. As a team we talked about our experiences this summer and all the fun times we've had. We all hope to stay in touch with each other as the school year starts and hope to see each other fulfill our goals as life goes on.

Our Etiquette Training

On Thursday after we worked outside Mrs. Carolyn came in to talk to us about manners. She noticed that some of us were shy. She had the observations to know that we were shy by noticing that everyone did not make eye contact or give a firm decent handshake. She asked us questions about manners and then told us how to be better on our accessibility. This training was very overt and helpful to us all. It showed us how to be more respectful to other people and ourselves. Mrs. Carolyn was a very nice lady, for she took time to come down here to Banner to talk to us about manners and how to be respectful young adults. We highly appreciate what she has done for us by teaching and showing us how to be more respectful and use manners the right way.

The Best Summer Job Ever

On August 6, 2008 the crew and I worked outside when it was hot 92 degrees, however we still got the job done. We did Fairmount around 12 noon and we went on break around 12:45. We all returned back to banner, then we went to CCBC community college of BALTIMORE county we learned about the different programs; Ms. Emily Cherry showed us about parallel enrollment programs and courses that you can take while you are in high school to receive more credits. They have three other locations in Essex, Catonsville, and Dundulk. Each college has great enrollment plans and they even have computer-automated manufacturing, but in all we had a nice time there.

Summer Action

This year at Banner Neighborhoods Community Corporation, the Neighborhood Youth Program has expanded its range. Other than just working all day long in the blazing sun, we have taken a few adventures. We have attended Harpers Ferry, West Virginia for a camping trip, a HIP Conference at the Crown Plaza, and The Sun Trust Bank. From these trips we have learned a little more than we already knew. But when we are working outside we work from 8 am until 12 noon. We have six hardworking and dedicated employees this summer. The names of these workers are Andre Trotman, Shyel Coats, Michael Riddick, Sha-que-tta Tolliver, Jacob Young, and then there's me, Bucky Reynolds. We are supervised by an amazing boss known as Coach Carter. He is great for the job because he knows how to interact and work with teenagers, or as he calls us, "Young Adults". When we are out in our communities working, our jobs, or better yet tasks, are to get up the weeds from the cracks in the streets and/or trees, mulch tree pits, sweep up the weeds that we pull up, and sometimes pick up the trash that we see. Sometimes on Saturdays we work in Patterson Park with The Friends of Patterson Park, but not every Saturday. When we come in from lunch every day we write down six words so we can build our vocabulary hoping to grasp these words for future references. Banner Neighborhoods Community Corporation's Executive Director is Ms. Jolyn. Without her here at Banner we would not have a job - no, an opportunity to exploit our character - here at Banner this summer. She doesn't just want us to work all day, but she hopes that we can grow and become better people. This summer at Banner Neighborhoods Community Corporation has been a great experience for all of us. We just hope that people will continue to keep their neighborhoods and communities clean and in great shape.

The AvP \ HIP project

The AVP\HIP training was fun because it showed us how to deal with certain situations and one of the situations we had to deal with was how to deal with the police. If you were stopped or in your car what would you say and what not to say and if the police came to your house or if you just walk to the store. But it was cool because they showed you in a form of a play about your rights. We also met different people from different parts of the United States.Places like Paris, Syracuse, New York, Florida, Puerto Rico, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and also Baltimore. We had so much fun there at the conference. At the AVP\HIP training we also played a game called the Big Wind Blows which is just a game that makes you feel like you have nothing to hide about being locked up or any thing to do with the police. It's a good game to know about the people around you. We also played a game called Birthday Lineup which is a game to see how much you have in common with somebody before you judged them. When we did that we found out that people had more in common than we thought. But I had a lot of fun and I will love to go back some day. I learned a lot and the people were so fun to be around. AVP\HIP was fun and good times.

Our Trip To West Virginia

My experience in Harpers Ferry,West Virginia was great. We stayed in a Retreat House which is known as a hostel. We learned how to work better with each other as a team and also enjoyed white water rafting with Allison and Moose. That was the first time we all have tried that and it was a great experience for us as a team to work together. During the rafting we all worked together in paddling so we could get through the rapid water. The trip to West Virginia was a great experience for me and the rest of the team.

THE 2008 NYEP CREW