What is out there to serve middle school students and gives them a chance to have fun at the same time? The Zone is what is out there.
The Zone is an after school program for middle school students to have a drug-free and bully-free environment. I have volunteered at the Zone as a staff member for four years and it is one of the best decisions of my life. I have over eight-hundred hours of volunteer hours at the Zone alone. It is open from 3:30-5:30 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Wednesday it is open at 2:45-5:30.
There are many different things to do. Volunteers can help tutor kids with their homework. They can also play on any of the game systems that we have at The Zone (Wii, Xbox, PS2) with the students. There is also the large gym that the building has that give kids a large area to play sports like football, basketball, volleyball, four-square, whiffleball, and soccer.
There is another game that we play daily that anyone is allowed to join in called Gagaball. This game is highly liked by most of the kids and staff members. We set up five long tables up to a wall to make a semicircle. We start while standing up against the wall or tables and someone drops in the volleyball, which is the game ball. It bounces twice and everyone goes for the ball and the goal is to hit the volleyball and hit a player below the knee to get them out.
Then at 4:00 we have snack, which is in a room off to the side. Then after that, we have everyone do what they were doing before, but this is usually when we have our high amount of people playing Gagaball. One of the other things that are played only after snack is dodgeball. Dodgeball has been on a decline because of the popularity of Gagaball, but it is played on a weekly basis.
It is a really fun experience and I have made so many friends from the Zone, some of which now come here to the high school and I see them on a daily basis. Volunteers can have fun helping middle school students with their homework, or play some sport with them. If one were to want to volunteer, find me somewhere at the school and talk to me and I will talk to the director and that will start the application process. There is also High School Zone that is on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30-9:30. The Zone is located at 2015 W 3rd St, the old National Guard Armory.
