With the passing of Labor Day, there are not many days left of summer. Luckily, the weather is still nice enough for outdoor activities such as hiking. The Pinnacles are a diamond in the rough, and only a short drive away from Columbia.

AudioPostcard Tornabene J2150 20170907 Mixdown

AudioPostcard Tornabene J2150 20170907 Mixdown Redo

Blog 3: Rashi

Anchor Intro: The Boys and Girls Club of Columbia has a different look this month. J2150 reporter, Juliana Tornabene has the story.

Juliana Tornabene: In honor of their 20 year anniversary celebration, the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia will be completing around a two million dollar renovation. Over 150 kids are enrolled to come to this location every day. Valorie Livingston, Director of the Boys and Girls Club, is very proud about the new features. 

Valorie_Features
Valorie Livingston: “That 14000 square foot expansion includes a high school sized gymnasium with a full theatrical performing arts stage and we converted the music room to be a state of the art recording studio.”

JT:The facility also upgraded their kitchen so they can have culinary classes, and added a high school wing. Some people preferred the simpler editions.

Aliyah_Features

Aliyah: “I like the new gym and I like how there's like doors and how there's not all carpet, and I like the new classrooms how they have animals.”

JT: That’s Aliyah. She is nine years old that has been coming here for for four years. The facility had to be shut down for a few weeks over the summer for construction, and once the kids could come back she was shocked. 

Aliyah_Size

A: “It used to be really really small, and now it's ginormous!”

The doubling in size was all to target kids into staying at the Boys and Girls Club into their teens. 

Valorie_highschool

VL:“When students hit junior high they start to trickle off, and when they go to high school they stop coming altogether. We didn't have enough high school dedicated programs.”

Livingston says that with crime going up in Columbia for high school students, she hopes that this program will be able to help. The grand public opening will be on November first for all parents and donors to come see the new space. For J2150, I’m Juliana Tornabene