Minutes 11-30-00ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN & YOUTH
YOUTH EXPO AWARD CEREMONY
CITY HALL CHAMBERS
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2000, 7:00 P.M.
BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA
PRESENT
ALSO PRESENT
Shanna St. John, Chairperson
Stephen Waldman, Vice Chairman
Dorothy Davis
Evelyn Geathers
Mary Morera
Hattie Miller
Welton Sanders (Alternate)
Lori Wilkinson
Sherri Claude, Assistant to Director,
Recreation Department
Kurt Bressner, City Manager
ABSENT
Amy DeVries
Amanda Hollis
I. CALLTO ORDER
Chairperson St. John called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and welcomed everyone
to the Youth Expo Award Ceremony. Chairperson St. John invited all to stay after the
award presentations for refreshments in the lobby of City Hall.
II. MOMENT OF SILENT PRAYER, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Following a moment of silent prayer, new Board member Welton Sanders led the Pledge
of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. INTRODUCTIONS
Chairperson St. John recognized the presence in the audience of the City Manager, Kurt
Bressner, thanking him for attending, and asking him if he wished to speak.
Mr. Bressner addressed the audience, apologizing that he had to hurry away to another
meeting, but thanking everyone for the hard work that had gone into the Youth Expo
event. He mentioned visiting the mall during the exhibits and said it was great, a job well
done. He also said it had been very meaningful to him to see all that the youth of the City
had achieved. He congratulated the young people and wished them success.
IV. RECOGNIZE AND THANK SPONSORS
Chairperson St. John recognized and thanked the event sponsors. She mentioned that
every dollar that was raised went towards savings bonds and costs to put on the event.
Volunteers do all of the work. The sponsors contributed approximately $4,000 to this
year's event.
Meeting Minutes
Youth Expo Award Ceremony
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, Florida
November 30, 2000
Sponsors:
The event and contest sponsors were:
Washington Mutual Savings Bank
Palm Beach Post
Hunters Run
The following sponsors also participated:
Boynton Beach Mall
City of Boynton Beach
The Board and the audience gave a big round of applause for the generosity of the
sponsors.
V. RECOGNIZE AND THANK JUDGES
Ms. Dorothy Davis, on behalf of the Advisory Board on Children and Youth, thanked the
persons who had volunteered their services as judges, sacrificing time from their busy
schedules to judge the artwork presented by the children of the City of Boynton Beach.
The judges were asked to stand as their names were called:
Heather Spilene
Lenore Waldman
Steve and Charlie Fisher
Verna Bittenbinder
VI. RECOGNIZE AND THANK PROVIDERS OF ENTERTAINMENT
Ms. Mary Morera, on behalf of the Advisory Board on Children and Youth, thanked the
following providers of entertainment for the two-day event. She said there were children
there from age 3 to 18 or 20 and they did a wonderful job. She asked the participants to
stand if present:
Sanataluces Chiefettes
Children's Theater Guild
South Florida Dynamics
Dance Center
L.A. Dance
That's Dancing
Santaluces Jazz Band
Royal Palm School Chorus
Tomodachi Judo
Southern Dance
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Meeting Minutes
Youth Expo Award Ceremony
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, Florida
November 30, 2000
Ms. Morera stated that these performances really made the event. Lots of people came
out for these performances, which were standing-room-only.
VII. RECOGNIZE AND THANK TABLE PARTICIPANTS
Chairperson St. John stated that she wished to thank the table participants at Youth
Expo who had done such a groat job and provided such good information. She hoped
that everyone had been able to gather information from the tables at the Youth Expo
event.
VIII, RECOGNIZE AND AWARD PARTICIPANTS AND CONTEST AWARD
WINNERS
Ms. Wilkinson and Ms. Hattie Miller, on behalf of the Advisory Board on Children and
Youth, announced the certificate and award winners and assisted in giving out the
awards.
:Certificates of Appreciation/S10.00 Mall Gift Certificates
Kathleen Angerbauer
Nathalie Champagne
Michael Fix
Samantha Jankowski
Victoria Jean
Krystie Kimmey
Chris Krauser
Paige Martin
Samantha Martin
Dylan Moody
Colin Morgan
Andrew Rosales
Andrea Smith
Joanne St. Fort
Sterling Swanson
Kenneth Thomas
Joviette Voltaire
Travis Wright
Contest Award Winners
Art, Elementary School Level
Honorable Mention ($50 savings bond)
Dakeria Phillips
Third Place, ($75 savings bond)
Eldine Eloi
Meeting Minutes
Youth Expo Award Ceremony
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, Florida
November 30, 2000
Second Place, ($100 savings bond)
Harshil Patel
First Place, ($200 savings bond)
Jamie Norton
Contest Award Winners
Art, High School Level
Third Place, ($75 savings bond)
Thomas Westhouse
Second Place, ($100 savings bond)
Sarah Bidmead
First Place, ($200 savings bond)
Jair Salazar
Photography, Elementary School Level
First Place ($200 savings bond)
Bridget DeVries
Photography, Middle School Level
First Place ($200 savings bond)
Julie Claude
Creative Writing, Middle School Level
Second Place ($100 savings bond)
Sean Dooley
First Place ($200 savings bond)
Erin Zylstra
Creative Writing, High School Level
First Place ($200 savings bond)
Layla Grosskopf
Creative Writing, Elementary School Level
Honorable Mention ($50 savings bond)
Serena Soplop
Lisa Stewart
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Meeting Minutes
Youth Expo Award Ceremony
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, Florida
November 30, 2000
Third Place ($75 savings bond)
Jessica Clark
Second Place ($100 savings bond)
Catherine Arnold
First Place ($200 savings bond)
Bridgett DeVries
Ms. Wilkinson, on behalf of the Advisory Board on Children and Youth, congratulated the
young people who had won awards and gotten certificates of participation. Chairperson
St. John thanked Ms. Wilkinson and Ms. Miller. She then stated that everyone should
have gotten a form to fill out for the savings bond and asked that they see someone on
the Board before leaving for the evening so the information could be recorded and the
bonds could be sent to the recipients.
IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chairperson St. John stated that the Advisory Board on Children and Youth was an
advisory Board to the City Commission of Boynton Beach, appointed by the City
Commission, and that their mission was to look into the unmet needs of the children of
Boynton Beach. She said that Youth Expo was just one of the programs, mentioning the
Youth Volunteer Bank where students do volunteer service. She said in this program
the youth do volunteer service, keep track of their hours, turn a record of those hours in,
and, once a year, an Awards Banquet is held, where the youth are given recognition for
the work they have done during the year. She asked if anyone was interested in signing
up for the Youth Volunteer Bank and if so, to contact someone on the Board so they
could forward the appropriate information. The Board is also putting together a
committee of people who are interested in having a teen and family center within the city
limits of Boynton Beach. The Board feels that such a place is very much needed and
they are going to be having their first workshop meeting with the community on
December 9, 2000 at the Library at 9:00 a.m. and invited all interested participants to
come. Tomorrow night there will be a Celebration of Peace at the Children's Museum
across the street with a tree-lighting ceremony and entertainment. Also, this Sunday at 3
p.m. on Federal Highway the Annual Christmas Parade will take place.
X. PUBLIC AUDIENCE
Chairperson St. John opened the floor for questions or comments from the public. She
said that the Board met the 4th Thursday of every month in the west wing of City Hall,
second floor at 7:00 p.m. and that the meetings were open to the public. She also said
there were openings for an adult and a student on the Board. Chairperson St. John
stated that her five years of Board membership had been very enlightening and
rewarding and she really enjoyed getting involved with the community.
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Meeting Minutes
Youth Expo Award Ceremony
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, Florida
November30,2000
Xl. CLOSING REMARKS
Chairperson St. John thanked Ms. Sherri Claude, who had been extremely helpful to the
Board during the past year and had helped to make their successes possible. The
Board showed its appreciation by presenting Ms. Claude with a bouquet of flowers. Ms.
Claude assists the Director of Recreation in the Leisure Services Department.
Chairperson St. John also wished to thank all the teachers, parents, mentors, political
leaders, and adults for being in their children's lives. She said that they were showing
their children how important they were by just being there at the awards ceremony. "Our
Children, Our Future" was more than just a bunch of words put together, she said. It is
important to realize that they are the people that will be taking over this world and we
need to listen to them, teach them, groom them, and love them. To the children in the
audience she said, "You ARE the future. What you do, what you say and what you feel
is very important. As adults, sometimes we do not have the time to listen to you but you
will just have to keep bugging us until we hear what you have to say and know what you
are feeling because we do care. We all have busy lives but take some time each day to
think about your future and the world's future. She suggested that the youth get a journal
and take a minute every day to write down just one thought about the future, your life
and how you can affect the world." She said we respect you and really care about what
you think. Chairperson St. John said she looked forward to the future that the youth
would bring to her. She thanked everyone for coming to the meeting.
Mr. Stephen Waldman, Vice Chair, arrived at the meeting at 7:30 p.m. and Chairperson
St. John introduced him to the audience.
Chairperson St. John invited everyone to partake of the refreshments being served in
the lobby. She also said that the owners of the artwork could take the artwork home at
the end of the evening. The children who had received certificates and awards were
asked to come to the front of the room so the parents could take pictures of them.
Ms. Wilkinson said that the Advisory Board on Children and Youth had a website that
was linked to the City's website and that many of the pictures taken this evening may be
put up on the website.
Chairperson St. John congratulated all the winners.
The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Recording Secretary
(One tape)