So What Else

5/17 So What Else Newsblast!

Art Butcher — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:47:51 +0000

So What Else and the Kennedy High School Key Club collected over 150-200 books to be delivered to Haiti. Special thanks to Kennedy HS for collecting the books, and Olivia Deramus from LearnServe for helping get them delivered.

So What Else has formed a partnership with the Friendship Circle who provide programing and mentorship to children with special needs. We are going to be a provider for these children in the coming months.

Special thanks to Murvell Delpino for being a great volunteer and putting on an arts and crafts class for elementary aged children at White Oak Rec Center this Friday 5/10.

This year as her Bat Mitzvah project, Jamie Lipson collected sporting goods to be donated to So What Else for our after school programs and classes. Thank you and congratulations, Jamie!

Jimmy of Mama Lucia’s is donating pizzas to each class in our after-school programs in celebration of the end of the year during the week of May 20th.

Our final summer camp dates are in! July 22-August 2nd in Prince George’s County. Location TBA.

So What Else took a management course at the Foundation Center called “Understanding Collaboration” and we are beginning official collaboration with Kingman and Nourish Now.

This summer on Thursday nights at White Oak Recreation Center, Jesse Breslerman will be teaching Integrative Wellnes!

Last Saturday, So What Else delivered almost a dozen bags of clothing to a needy Gaithersburg family. Thank you to everyone for making that possible!

On May 11th, Daphne Clark attended a seminar at the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County. She received advice on how community based organizations should run meetings and structure their company in terms of dealing with giving everyone on the staff a voice.

On Wednesday we had a “Punt, Pass, and Kic” competition at Roberto Clemente Middle School. The gold medal was won by Dasani, the silver by Tre, and Tyler came in with the bronze! And the female PPK champion was Arian! We had a lot of fun including some cool prizes and good snacks provided by Nourish Now.

Tuesday at Forest Oak Middle School we had a coach’s challenge football game where the students beat the staff on the last play of the game. The students were captained by Julio and Nady. Next week there will be a final coach’s challenge soccer game for out last week of class!

Excel Beyond The Bell

Art Butcher — Sat, 11 May 2013 13:11:28 +0000

We had a great healthy living class with the Excel Beyond the Bell students at Loiederman middle school on Monday the 6th. We transplanted sweet basil plants into pots and for a snack made a healthy version of the “dirt cup” recipe!

Summer Camp Dates

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:10:47 +0000

So What Else is always open to exposing our youth to any type of knowledge they may not know yet. If you have a desire to work with area youth in your area of expertise and teach them anything from math to robotics to stage acting, please feel free to contact us!
Our summer camp dates are:

July 24-31 at Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring
August 12-23^rd at Kingman Boys and Girls Club in North West, DC
Third camps dates TBA

We encourage you to contact us if you want to be a part of it!

Excel Beyond The Bell Banquet

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:10:00 +0000

Wednesday night, May 1^st, So What Else was honored at the Excel Beyond the Bell banquet. We were given an honorary plaque by Ike Leggett and Tim Warner for our contribution to out of school time programming.

Shout Out To Nourish Now And Dunkin Dohnuts

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:09:09 +0000

We would like to thank Nourish Now, Dunkin Dohnuts, and Daphne Clark for helping to arrange our weekly pickup of unused fresh foods from DD, King Farm. The Nourish Now and So What Else collaboration have provided over 200 classes with over 1500 meals and snacks for area youth in the calendar year 2013. We want to recognize Brett Meyers of Nourish Now for all of his collaboration and commitment to the mission.

Introducing Brent Cash – SWE’s Newest Board Member

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:06:22 +0000

Our newest board member Brent Cash, a civil engineer who started a nonprofit mentoring program at Duke, will be teaching the philanthropy class at the White Oak Recreation Center on Thursday night 6:30 PM. Brent is going to be exposing our middle schoolers to our Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum.

Dance Class

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:05:23 +0000

We are pleased to announce our first dance class! On Friday, May 3 at 4:30 pm at White Oak Recreation Center our fantastic group of elementary school students will participate in a Latin-American fusion dance class with two instructors from the dance company Clancy Works.

Milk Lady Markets Partnership

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:04:42 +0000

So What Else announces its partnership with farmers market Milk Lady Markets! This upcoming summer there will be up to six volunteer opportunities with the markets. This partnership exposes volunteers to local businesses and gives them the chance to learn about the harvesting and purchase of local, healthy, organic foods.

Prince Georges County Youth Program

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:04:06 +0000

So What Else announces its final week of summer camp with the Prince Georges County youth program! Thanks to Pamela Moore for sponsoring this fantastic week of summer camp for the second year in a row. Dates coming soon! This launches our long-awaited initiative to work with the most needs-based kids in PG County.

2013 AT&T Golf Tournament

Art Butcher — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:03:23 +0000

Come join us at the beautiful AT&T golf tournament from Tuesday, June 25 – Sunday, June 30 at Congressional Country Club in Potomac. All proceeds via the grant from volunteer shift hours go to our youth programming at So What Else. Shifts are available starting at 7 AM and 11 AM. ContactDSilbert@sowhatelse.org to sign up.