Whitney Institute School Hosts ‘Boys Night In’
[Written by Edmeiko Butterfield]
During the 2016-2017 school year, The Whitney Institute Middle School held their first ‘Boys Night In’ event. This year,from 6pm on Friday, November 9th until Saturday, November 10th at 7am the school decided to host a similar event, due to popular demand.
As we all know there are social challenges that our boys face on a daily basis. With so many negative influences out there, it is easy to fall into the negative ‘peer pressures’ of life. At The Whitney Institute Middle School, we want to ensure that our boys help to build each other up rather than tear each other down. One of those ways is the Boys Night In.
Most of the activities that they participated in during the night were about team work, but most importantly it was about coming together as young males and older males – enjoying each other’s company.
This year’s event saw a total of 53 male students in attendance, and five male staff members who volunteered their time to ensure that this event was successful. We had activities set up, which were donated by Xtreme Sports and Soul Food Promotions. They also donated their services during the 2016-2017 Boys Night In event and their continued support is much appreciated.
Mr. Fotogenik [Shawn Simmons] donated his artistic skills and created an audio advert for our event, which was played during assemblies to garner excitement and participation for the event. We also had Andis Life [Jovan Trott] who donated his time and gave some of the boys free haircuts.
A panel discussion was setup with four males from the community who were able to share their life experiences with our boys. They spoke about relationships, their school years, their careers, their successes and their failures. The boys had an opportunity to ask questions and we were able to have open dialogue. It’s because of our community partners that we are able to have positive activities for our young men.
The money raised from registration for the night allowed us to make a donation to Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre. We would like to thank all the boys who participated and also our community members who donated their time.
