Boys & Girls Club Blog

October 13, 2021

As our summer program came to an end, the excitement of the first day of school rang through the entire building of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. During the last week of our adventures, children were meeting their teachers, packing up their school supplies, and getting ready to see the faces they had missed all summer. After the kids walked out of our doors on the last day of summer, the staff took a breath and realized we only had one week to turn the building into a brand new program space. As we started cleaning and planning, we came up with an amazing, new and different program for the after-school sites run by the Club.

Now our Fall programs are in full swing! Our main location, the Club at 501 E. Parkway Avenue, houses multiple programs. Our youngest program, the Radford Program, is for children in Kindergarten-3rd grade. Our Quest Program is for children in 4th-7th grade, and our Teen Program is for 8th-12th grade. Radford is open until 6 p.m., and the Quest and Teen Programs are open until 7 p.m.

Youth can be transported to the main Club location by family or friends, another agency, or through the transportation, we offer from Jefferson Oaklawn or Read Elementary, Merrill, Webster Stanley or Perry Tipler Middle School, or from Oshkosh West High School (we have a limited number of spots on our vehicles, so registering early is recommended).

The children are broken up into groups and do a variety of activities throughout the time they are here. We serve a snack and dinner every night, and offer homework help, leadership opportunities, STEM learning, art, fitness, field trips, teaching healthy eating habits and culinary skills, career and college tours for our teens, and so much more! We also focus on our families. We offer many resources outside of after-school care to assist families and make sure all families have their basic needs met.

In addition, we have two school site programs that are licensed by the state of Wisconsin. These programs are located at Lakeside Elementary School and Shapiro STEM Academy. Our after-school program is located in the gym, cafeteria and playground areas of the schools. Children participate in table time activities, gym games, art projects, outside activities, homework help (if requested), and activities with community partners.

We have a new licensed after-school program at Omro Elementary School. We will also offer a summer program in 2022. Children from H.B. Patch Elementary can be bussed to Omro Elementary for this program.

We have also added a new after-school program at South Park Middle School that started in September for youth in 6th – 8th grade.

We are partners with the Oshkosh Area School District with the Lighted School House and MELT programs at Merrill, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Washington elementary schools and Merrill, Webster, and Tipler middle schools. In our partnership, each child who participates in this after-school program is also a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. They can participate in programs and activities at the downtown Club at any time. There is no registration required (except for non-school days and in the summer).

The Boys & Girls Club has many different activities and programs happening all over the city of Oshkosh. We would love to have your child be a part of it! If you have any questions or would like a tour of any of our programs, please contact Lindsay Clark, Director of Club Operations, at lindsayc@bgcosh.org.

We are looking forward to a great year!

Lindsay Clark
Director of Operations