Charles County Public Library; Program was held on March 24, 2012 Proposal for Afternoon Technology/Life Skills

Open House for Teens

The open house would be geared towards high school age students. This demographic is not served through most of our library programs. Most teenage programs are more so entertainment based with games and movies. The open house would consist of three main components: An instructional class on E Reader usage and downloading from our online library, a presentation on resume writing skills, interviewing skills, and job searching, and the last component would be get up and move exercise of either yoga or hip hop dance. Our community partners would consist of the following: My Gym; they have partnered with the Charles County Public Library on multiple occasions for programs. They would perform the Hip Hop demonstration for the teens, and also discuss ways in which they can exercise at home. We have a volunteer at the PD Brown library, Joe Erskine, that holds classes on resume writing instruction, and ways to get your resume noticed. He would be partnering with multiple presenters in discussing effective resumes, and effective job searching skills the teens can utilize, job interviewing; what to wear, what not to wear, appropriate things to say, and how to conduct themselves professionally no matter the job opportunity. FutureNext would be at the forefront of promoting our program throughout the community and the schools. The event was a brain child of our library director when she had participated in a similar program at a local public school. All of the presenters were contacted immediately and communicated the date of interest for the program. The library branch where the program was to be held was reserved, and the staff whom were to work the event were scheduled and informed of their duties. The day of the event the room was prepped as an informational class, with resources for the teens to take home with them. I prepared a pamphlet with simple Interview tips and tricks, a sample resume, and a light hearted word search with interviewing and resume word terms. I feel that following things could be changed to improve our attendance: Promoting the program more effectively. One of the presenters didnt promote the program to their school connections until the day before it was to be held, this could have made a majority of our attendance. A reconsideration of the library branch where it was held, we chose to have it held at our Potomac Branch, one of the least busy locations, and the demographic of the area consists mostly of older populous. Overall it was still a very good program. The presenters were excellent and the attendance we had enjoyed what was offered.

2 Garrett Avenue La Plata, MD 20646 301-934-9001 www.ccplonline.org

Press Release
Contact: Emily Ferren Phone: 301-934-9001 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 18, 2012 SHAPE YOUR TEENS FUTURE WITH AN OPEN HOUSE AT YOUR LIBRARY Your local library helps provide a lifelong learning opportunity for all ages, capitalize on this opportunity to educate yourself and your teen. FutureNext is a Non-Profit organization that will be partnering with the Charles County Public Library to infuse life skills, expose teens to real life scenarios, provide them with the resources they will need, and guidance to help them through it all in an afternoon open house. The open house will provide teens of all ages with information and tools for job searching, applying for jobs, composing a resume, and acing the job interview. There will also be an instructional class held on how to download from the librarys online media to all E Reader devices. Teens are encouraged to bring their E Reader device to participate. We sincerely care about the success and well-being of each and every one of our students, cultivating and encouraging them to achieve performance expectation and beyond, supporting and sharing a commitment to our youth in our communities and taking the responsibility by following through without pointing finger at problems but becoming the solution to make better and stronger communities, said Nicole Thomas, Executive Officer of Future Next Corporation. For more information about this program, visit your local library or contact: Potomac Branch Library, 301-375-7375; P.D. Brown Branch Library, 301-645-2864; La Plata Branch Library, 301-934-9001.