Boys and Girls Club brings Metro Detroit Youth Day to Belle Isle
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Detroit hosted the annual Metro Detroit Youth Day on Tuesday.
From career exploration and hands-on tech activities to games, music and scholarships, families said it gave kids a chance to learn while having fun.
"I like how we have our format of Detroit, because we don't really, like, a while ago, a long time ago, we didn't really have stuff where we just went outside, had events, had tents and stuff for other people and stuff, which this has been a great experience," said attendee Sebastian Underwood.
For students like Deniya Lewis, the event is a chance to learn more about future careers. She hopes to be a crime scene investigator.
"A lot of things inspired me, but I would say the main things is, like, figuring out and helping people, and, like, seeing all the things happening in the world and on the news, it's just, like, it would be nice if I could be someone that helps," said Lewis.
Parents, like Kendra Brown, also said they were excited about the educational opportunities available for their children.
"The educational. The education, to see what's up next for the schools, for the children," said Brown.
Brown attended the event with her sons and expressed gratitude to the organizers for being budget-friendly.
"I love it for the children, for the youth, because it's not a lot of free events, even though they like have free food. A lot of the events are not free. For people to have more than one child, it becomes hard sometimes to deal with these types of activities. Where it's free, so it's actually a blessing to have in the city, actually," said Brown.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit COO Jake Millner says the goal is to help expose young people to future opportunities while celebrating youth across the region.
"I think just getting exposure to different areas, we're trying to drive economic mobility into our youth, into our clubs, and having that exposure point with the different college youth, and the college days where they can sign up and see the different opportunities, and show them what's out there," Millner said.
Throughout the day, families enjoyed free food, games, technology demonstrations, career exploration opportunities and live performances.
A highlight of the day will be the MDYD IDOL Competition, featuring performers ages 6 to 17 competing in categories such as singing, dancing, spoken word and other talents.