STARR Vermont Trips

Each summer, the STARR program culminates with a weeklong trip to New England. This experience allows the youth a temporary respite from the stress of the inner-city environment. The youth stay at a local prep school for the week and the academic setting allows them to engage in an assortment of activities that encourage teamwork, self-reliance, and non-aggressive interactions with peers. These activities include group meal preparation, overnight camping, and nightly debates on different topics. The trip also allows the adolescents to participate in daily-organized sports activities where the values of teamwork and perseverance are stressed over the importance of competition and winning.

Ultimately this setting provides a safe, controlled setting for the development of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to avoid the obstacles to healthy development such as drugs, violence, and premature parenthood. By providing such experiences, the STARR Program encourages and enables adolescents to choose a healthy path to a better future.

Belly Dancing in Vermont with Nyeema Watson This year's Vermont fun activities included not only traditional outdoor activities, such as backpacking; thanks to Nyeema, the STARR kids also had a blast when they were introduced to a new way of doing exercise--- moving and swaying to the rhythms of belly dancing music. View a streaming video. (3.54 min)

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