Young Leaders Society members and VPL students from Mendez Middle School, one of three campuses we support through our Target Graduation program, joined forces last weekend on a very different kind of volunteer project.
Along with members of Mendez’s Skateboard Club, an after school group dedicated to kick-flipping and perfecting the art of an Ollie, the volunteers built a skate ramp at the school entirely from scratch.
Students utilized skills they had recently learned in their math classes as they measured boards, calculated angles and used formulas to get the perfect angles on the ramp. Young Leaders Society members assisted with the heavy-duty aspects by drilling the boards into place and making sure the ramp was stable. Members of the Skateboard Club had an audience to show off on the new ramp after completion, and some YLS members even assisted with teaching new skateboard skills.
The Dove Springs community in which Mendez Middle School sits is two years into a health and wellness revitalization project. “GO Austin! VAMOS Austin!” is a place-based health initiative, funded by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, aimed at reducing obesity in zip code 78744. Initiative organizers and community leaders have advocated for better sidewalks, improved lighting at parks, safe routes to school and coordinated exercise programs, like Zumba and soccer for local kids and families.
We are happy to support not only this health initiative in Dove Springs, but to support high-quality afterschool programming in this neighborhood, such as the Skateboard Club at Mendez. View all of the photos from this project on our Flickr page.