Celebrating Our Student Leaders' Summer Journey

Hi everyone!

In case you haven't seen us on the Club's social media pages, we are Will McCoy and Becker Zimmerman, two college​ students with the Bank of America Student Leaders Program that ​recently wrapped up a five week internship with the Resource Development team at the Club. We wanted to share our experience at the Club because coming into this internship, we had a limited knowledge of what the Club actually does. We assumed it was simply an afterschool program for kids.

Five weeks later, that picture has changed a lot as we've come to realize just how big an impact the Club has. The afterschool program just scratches the surface of what the Club provides. For youth ages 3-24, it’s a safe, empowering space where you can have new experiences, build lifelong friendships, and get real opportunities to grow into their best selves. We saw firsthand that the Club is a second home for these kids. 

What surprised us most, though, was everything happening behind the scenes. We got a front row seat for discussions about fundraising strategies, budgeting, data collection, event planning, and staff trainings. So much goes into organizing these programs and running daily operations and that work is often overlooked. We don't think enough people recognize the strain and effort it takes to sustain it. 

Over the course of our internship, we packed in a wide range of experiences: 

• Shared our passion for finance with the teens, teaching about investing, budgeting, and managing debt

• Attended Pre-K graduation at Albany School of Humanities

• Spent the day at Lawson Lake exploring nature, playing basketball, and running a water balloon team building activity with the summer camp kids

• Attended press conference for the opening of the Knickerbacker Aquatic Center

• Trip to NYC to tour the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club

• Shadowed the Club's CEO Patrick Doyle for a day, seeing what a typical day of leadership looks like and learn about his journey from Club Kid to CEO

• Worked on a financial case study of the Club for the CFO

• Secured some cool raffle donations for the October 23rd Great Futures Gala (Please come out, support the Club, and have a fun night!)

Through tabling several community spots (MVP Firebirds game, Huck Finn's Playland, Love Albany Movie Night, and Crossgates Mall) we met a lot of people that were connected to the Club in some way. From kids that were about to enter our UPK program to teens that attended events here, to a man that came to the Club in the 70s, it was great to connect with people that have been positively impacted by the Club.

One of the most eye-opening days was helping distribute a large amount of food that had been donated to the Club unexpectedly. We saw how the staff handle challenges and worked together to provide a lifeline to members in the community. We were able to successfully distribute over 500 lbs of food that day because the team quickly mobilized and made sure that the people in our community that need us most had access to this vital resource. 

Overall, we are incredibly proud to have a small part in the success of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Capital Area this summer. It was a rewarding experience and we’re thankful for Bank of America for making this possible! 

With gratitude, Will & Becker