Eastside Youth Group
AKA: Champlain Place GETOUT! Youth Action Team
The East Side Youth Group at Champlain Place started getting together at the weekly youth drop-in night to work on their ideas for planning more fun, new and different activities for youth in their community. The East Side Youth were between 11 and 15 years old, and took the lead in making new opportunities for themselves and their peers. Who better to plan activities that work for youth than their friends, anyway?
The group started brainstorming, asking questions, getting creative and getting busy.and soon the idea of hosting a community BBQ and talent show emerged.
The group invited parents and neighbours to enjoy the talent of Champlain Heights youth. Besides having a good time, the East Side Youth hoped to build support for the youth group from parents and other youth. The talent show and barbeque was a big success and involved many youth of all ages, as well as parents and other community members.
The East Side Youth also planned field trips and worked to involve more youth from their community.
Our Own Beat
GETOUT! Youth Action Team finds its community beat
by David Nichols, GETOUT! Youth Reporter
Photos by August Bramhoff, GETOUT! Youth Reporter
Saturday March 19th, 2005
Not knowing what to expect from the Eastside Youth Group and its first Eastside Youth Group/CP Kidz Club community bbq & talent show, the tarp covered doorway is a passage into a room humming with palpable energy. A bustling crew of kids serves refreshments to a capacity crowd of parents and siblings while organizers young and old dodge and weave through the chaos. Mom gives last minute encouragement while dad sits cross-armed in anticipation of a time when it will all be over. We’ve arrived just before show time, and the balloon framed stage lies waiting, coloured lights tracing their patterns against the wall.
A tone is set with Shilan and Wilson’s shaky opening of Oh Canada. Vocal and violin loosely dart around the familiar melody, tune and speed briefly following their own paths only to meet again a second later. A loud crash comes from outside, the pounding of the rain intensifies, and the performers are the calm eye of the storm, smiling and basking in the energy of their creation. From then on, musical miscues are met with laughter and kids take it upon themselves to calm the buzzing crowd before they begin. Parents are simply there to observe and record, rushing to and from the stage, digital cameras held aloft, showing off their newly prized photos just seconds after taking them.
“That’s my baby!”
When MCs Jessica W. and Jordan take charge of the unruly audience, it’s clear that this night belongs to these kids. From Nem’s Canadian Idol dance moves to the “shaking at the knees” of Thunderstruck rockers Richard, Darren, James, and Wilson, the joy and pride in their chaotic form of entertainment is evident. Jessica G. takes time for an emotional aside before singing “Thank You,” letting the audience know “this song goes out to everyone who’s made a difference in our lives who couldn’t be here tonight.” While the stools that doubled for drums during the AC/DC set are put back to their intended use, the guitarist carries his cardboard and electrical tape 3-string with him the rest of the night. Nem, Rosa, Dejan and Jessica G. bring the show stopper, treating Ashanti’s “Foolish” to their four part harmonies, and a couple of moms are coerced into an impromptu dance number until the blinds are lowered over Iran’s cardboard artistry, a curtain draw on a memorable night.
Awards are handed out in the best possible way, everybody getting one, with violinist/stool drummer Wilson cleaning up on Future Shop gift certificates, and Andrew, the young man who brought it all together, hurriedly accepting his award before rushing off to another waiting task. The smiles are wide, as they have been all night. No one remembers the missed cues or the flubbed notes, just the fun they had at a talent show they could call their own.
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