In an effort to reduce email clutter for our supporters, AYTEF has moved from a monthly to a quarterly distribution. Please take a moment to celebrate all we have accomplished since our last newsletter communication in May. We are incredibly proud of our program, staff, and youth! | |
|
GameSetMatch is Growing!
In June, AYTEF separated GameSetMatch into three programs.
GAME: 4-week beginner course
SET: our core group
MATCH: competitive players
Since establishing this new pathway, we have grown by 15 new families and now have close to 50 youth participants in our year-round GameSetMatch program. We offer low-cost tennis programming 4 days per week at Fair Oaks Tennis Center and currently have a program waitlist.
|
|
|
AYTEF's First Team Challenge
Congrats to our AYTEF youth who completed their first USTA Team Challenge in August. Over 30 beginner 12U and 10U tennis players from the Cobb County area gathered for a fun morning of friendly singles and doubles competition at Sweetwater Tennis Center. Many thanks USTA Atlanta, USTA Georgia, Jim Hunter, Raoul Bax, Eric Highsmith, Joshua Davis, and Farley Youman for collaborating with AYTEF to ensure a successful introduction to team tennis for our youth players.
| |  |
|
Why Do Youth Love AYTEF?
AYTEF programs strive to help young people gain 21st-century skills and develop social and emotional capacities that correlate with long-term gains in high school completion, college/career readiness, and increased life-long thriving. To measure our impact on social and emotional learning (SEL) support, AYTEF conducted surveys from the Hello Insight evaluation platform. Watch the video above to see why youth awarded GameSetMatch a 100% satisfaction rating.
| | |
Vi's Life-Skills Blog
AYTEF's after school program provides youth with a safe place where they feel heard, valued, supported. Ms. Vi, our Life-Skills Coordinator, teaches lessons designed to help youth manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. To see what AYTEF youth have been accomplishing, check out our new Life-Skills Blog.
| |
|
|
|
Katherine Gooding Service Award
Congratulations to Heys Parker for earning the 2022 Katherine Gooding Service Award for the outstanding service, leadership, and character he displayed in executing an Eagle Scout project to benefit AYTEF youth. Over the course of an entire year, Heys planned, designed, and built two study tables with partitions to be used by participants of our GameSetMatch program at Fair Oaks Tennis Center. These tables are very much appreciated by youth and staff during our life-skills lessons or academic enrichment tutoring each Monday and Wednesday throughout the year.
Thank you, Heys, for exemplifying the characteristics of this award given in Katherine's honor.
| | | |
Academic Enrichment with Ms. Michelle
The academic portion of our SET program provides youth academic assistance while teaching accountability and how to manage and prioritize learning. Ms. Michelle helps ensure that AYTEF youth complete and understand homework assignments they bring to our after school program.
As a USTA National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) organization, AYTEF prioritizes achievement both. on and off the court.
| |
AYTEF's Fall STEM Learning Labs Are Underway
Jelly bean building, magnetic slime creation, and coding to learn the scientific method are just some of the topics youth have covered so far this fall in AYTEF's virtual STEM Learning Labs.
In October our young scientists will animate their name with SCRATCH, learn to dissolve candy corn, and make a DIY stethoscope.
Congrats to Ms. Samantha, our amazing AYTEF STEM Director, on the birth of her new baby girl this month!
| | |
AYTEF Awards STEM Summer Camp Scholarships
Because of your generous donations, 3 AYTEF youth were able to attend week-long summer STEM camps at The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia. These STEM camps were free of charge to our families and 100% funded by the Michael C. Kraft Scholarship Fund.
Click on the video above to find out what the kids learned in Whizara's Scratch Programming, STEM Fundamentals using LEGO Materials, and Construction Zone Camp!
| | |
|
AYTEF'S NEXT BLOCK PARTY IS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th
Free pizza, tennis, and fun! The Block Party is AYTEF's signature community outreach event for the whole family. Many thanks to the Kennesaw State University men and women's tennis teams for volunteering on-court in September. Watch the video to see August highlights and learn more about this event.
| |
|
AYTEF at the Atlanta Open
The highlight of AYTEF's summer was our time at the Atlanta Open hosted by PGA Superstore. Our youth had the opportunity to participate in a clinic led by Luke Jensen and do a meet-and-greet with current Wimbledon doubles champion Matt Ebden. Three AYTEF youth were selected as finalists for the Reilly Opelka drawing contest and were able to meet and interview Reilly. Each AYTEF family and student were given tickets to the day session, and PGA Superstore presented AYTEF with a $5,000 program grant!
| |
|
|
|
UTA Helps Support AYTEF
Universal Tennis Academy (UTA) has recently hosted two fundraising events for AYTEF's benefit. Proceeds from the UTA 25 Year Reunion and UTA Family Fun Night helped raise over $13,500 to support AYTEF programming.
AYTEF truly appreciates the generosity of UTA partners, staff, and families. Thank you!
| | | |
The mission of the Atlanta Youth Tennis & Education Foundation is to ENRICH the lives of under-resourced youth through tennis and education. We SERVE through sport so that our youth participants can ACHIEVE without limit on the court, in the classroom, and in life.
| | | | | |
