The City of Raleigh Teen Outreach Program wanted us to create a photo scavenger hunt for their teens as a “dry-run” to be used later on as part of the Teen X-treme summer camp that the city offers every year. TOPs wanted us to create a fun and exciting program that the participants would enjoy and that would also encourage the students to return to the agency each week and continue having fun. The scavenger hunt was unique for the teens, especially because they got away from their home site to travel to and experience Pullen Park. By providing the TOPs participants with this program, we hope they will become more inclined to participate in future programs and daily activities with the agency.
It is important to the City of Raleigh's Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Department for local teens to get and stay involved with TOPs, because the teens are a huge part of the community. As the saying goes, “children are our future," so the City of Raleigh wants to enhance the future of the community as best they can. As such, the city works with TOPs to strengthen the teens' ties both within and around the Raleigh area while providing them with a safe and engaging environment to utilize after school lets out each day.
Participant
1. Participants will participate in activities that are new to them and make them step out of their comfort zone.
2. Participants will become closer and friendlier with the other teens while participating and engaging in the different stations.
3. Participants will be introduced to Pullen Park and learn about the different activities it has to offer.
4. Participants will compete with one another to win the scavenger hunt.
5. Participants will positively encourage their group members to participate in the stations with them.
6. Participants will listen and follow directions from the staff.
7. Participants will create fun and exciting memories with their peers, which will encourage them to continue to participate in the TOPS programs.
8. Participants will feel a sense of community with the other TOPS participants and staff.
9. Participants will be aware of their surroundings at the Park while being respectful of everyone else there.
Program
1. We will create stations that keep the teens engaged and actively participating.
2. We will create the stations to accommodate for anyone to participate regardless of their ability.
3. We will encourage the participants to cheer on their group members while completing the stations.
4. We will provide our volunteers with all the information they need to run the different stations.
5. We will follow the programming wave while designing our fear factor themed stations.
6. We will stay in the budget while shopping for supplies.
7. We will reserve the pavilion at Pullen Park two weeks in advance.
8. We will create flyers to post at Method Road to market our program to the teens.
9. We will run through each station beforehand to make sure all the conditions are safe for the participants.
10. We will interview the participants after the program to learn what they enjoyed and what we can improve on.
Caring Neighborhood - Most teens in the TOPS programs lived in the same neighborhoods, so through our program we built their relationships with each other through activities that promoted healthy communication and bonding like the Spam Toss station. This in turn developed a caring neighborhood environment at home and in the community.
Safety - Safety was promoted in this program through the participants active participation at Pullen Park and the TOPS program. Participants learned about safe places to recreate in their local communities like Pullen Park and developed relationships with peers and adults, thus making them feel safer during TOPS programs and in their neighborhoods.
Child Programs - Through our program we provided a structured community activity for the local teens. Their participation in our program kept them busy after school doing activities that were beneficial for their physical and cognitive health, rather than participating in activities that do not have any positive impacts.
Interpersonal Competence - This program required the teens of TOPS to work in groups to achieve their goals throughout the scavenger hunt. Through our interactions we all developed better relationships with each other and the teens bettered their relationships with their peers. Furthermore, they also learned how to resolve conflicts peacefully that may arise during their participation in the program such as when deciding who from their team to choose to do the station.
Self-Esteem - Our program activities required the teens to get out of their comfort zone by participating in a variety of stations. Through the engaging activities the teens learned to be comfortable with themselves and their peers. Furthermore, due to the open communication and overall judge free zone the teens were able to be themselves leading to a higher self esteem.
Caring - The values of teamwork were stressed to the teens during our program, thus leading them to learn to care for the well-being of their peers. The teams were awarded additional points when acts of encouragement and teamwork were noticed and acknowledged by group volunteers during the scavenger hunt. Through their interactions with their team members, the teens also learned to help each other to ensure their teams were successful during the program.