2009 In Review - Final Girls Night

Continuing from the end of 2009, I'll be posting some articles that were written over the past 12 months about the events and accomplishments of the EYC last year. I hope to post them in chronological order just to show all the awesome things youth have done down here at the centre.

The following was originally printed in the Essex Voice and Essex Free Press back in May:

EYC Girls Nights Make Way For Summer Events
By Marc Rocheleau

After four successful months, Essex Youth Centre (EYC) is ending Girls Nights to focus on summer activities.

Starting February 4, Girls Nights ran on Wednesdays and gave female youth a place to socialize. In addition to meeting new people, those attending tackled important issues and had fun in the process.

“We had a night where we talked about body image,” said Girls Night organizer, Sylvia Caetano. “The girls really seemed to get into that one. The presentation was only 30 minutes but then we talked about it for almost an hour.”

Every Girls Night was different and sometimes members took trips such as glow golf or the mall. When they stayed at EYC, there were different activities and theme nights, including birthday, siblings and Oriental nights.

“My favourite was Oriental night,” said 17-year-old member, Monika Cipkar. “We got to wear our kimono if we wanted to and we had stir-fry and that – that was a lot of fun.”

Although EYC Executive-Director, Sandy Larivee, felt Girls Nights were successful, the decision was made to put them on hiatus until the fall. With warmer weather and summer activities being planned, things were getting busy: Exams are quickly approaching and focus needs to be on school work according to Larivee.

Larivee will have a meeting with members in the near future to discuss activities they’d like to do this summer. She hopes to have fundraisers as well for things like a trip to Cedar Point, a Tigers game and the Vans Warped tour.

“We certainly need to do some fundraising,” said Larivee. “We really want to help kids to earn their own money for trips we may take in the summer; particularly those kids who can’t get jobs.”

Last year, EYC organized a trip to Toronto and they’re hoping to do something similar for its members this summer. If you are a youth and wish to join the centre, you can call 519-776-9000 for more information.