Greetings! We are well on our way into the school year . . . but we didn't want you to miss all of the fun actives throughout the summer.

Don't forget that now the school year has started we would LOVE for you to come back and volunteer with the children. Please reach out to Mary Asta to learn more.

To start the summer off right GEC's middle and high school students were treated to an extra special Experiential Educational Outing aboard the Miss Naples 46' Catareman thanks to the Joseph J Schott Family Foundation. The trip was filled with nature and nautical quizzes with a first-hand education on sailing (and the sailing business) throughout the day. Click here to read the Naples Daily News cover of this fun trip.

You may remember in the last newsletter we introduced Maria, the Gulf Coast High School student who received A's the ENTIRE YEAR! Well, she finally received her reward, a brand new Apple Watch purchased by an extremely generous (by anonymous) donor. That same donor also provided a $50 cash reward to all the other students this year who bring home straight A's each quarter. Click the image to watch the adorable (and funny) video of her receiving her gift.

Cypress Woods Golf and Country Club steps up to enhance our Entrepreneurial Apprenticeship Program (EAP) by creating our new pilot program, Career Mentoring Program (CMP) for our GEC Kids. Twelve middle and high school students had the opportunity to earn stipends while learning the entire country club business from the top down from each department head to learn leadership roles.

The kids started each session with their hand-picked crisp and clean uniform and rotated through learning about various roles including, food prep, working in the pro-shop, stuffing folders for the management office as well as reception work. Students RELINQUISHED THEIR PHONES, clocked in to record their hours, and then split up into teams of two spread throughout each division for two days a week for four weeks. It was a tremendous success. AND OUR VERY OWN AARON AND JULIO WERE HIRED TO WORK WITH THE GOLF PRO SHOP BEGINNING IN OCT ON THE WEEKENDS!

As part of the multi-faceted EAP program, they were given their first intro to banking and the benefits. Five students eagerly opened checking and savings accounts, with two more students opening a savings and a checking account this week! It so beautiful to see their pride and excitement!

As part of the CMP students training at the Cypress Woods Golf Club, all of the participants (and two lucky younger siblings) received golf lessons to fully understand the club! Look at her hit! She's a natural!!!

Special guest, Pam Lins, Controller of McDonald's USA owned stores, came to speak on scholarship benefits and the multi-leveled careers from marketing, franchising to flipping burgers at McDonald's. The students had many questions. Following they were all treated to t-shirts and lunch from McDonald's! Thank you, Pam Lins!!!

Summer Camp at GEC has Education disguised as fun! The students had piano lessons, healthy cooking classes, art, acting, reading, and much much more!

Music Classes: 2 days a week all summer campers received piano lessons!

Art Classes: 2 days a week the kiddos had multiple art classes. One very special project was with the student tie-dying 200 white napkins to be used every day at GEC as our ongoing etiquette classes.

On any given day you will see students having snacks and dinner with the beautiful colored cloth napkin in their lap!

Zoo Trip: As part of another Experentilal Educational Outing, the elementary students went to the Naples Zoo. They asked so many questions and had a blast!

Acting Classes: As part of our ongoing SMART Program; Building Emotional Intelligence, the students received acting classes to release energy and emotions! This photo is from a 4th of July skit!

Books were donated and kids loved them! Every Wednesday, the kiddos had movies and popcorn! Even the moms had classes . . . English and piano!

You can't end summer camp without having a water fest, compliments of the North Naples Fire Department!

Please consider making a donation to the center and help our programs thrive. A donation to GEC is investing in the future well-being of not only the children but our community too.