Final Report: 2012 Random-A-Thon

I finally tracked down the last few teens who owed money from the Random-A-Thon, so now I can give you the results!  

We raised a total of $887 dollars.  We didn't quite get to $1000 as I had hoped, but that's still really good!  Also, it saved my hair from being mohawked.  I don't want to thank you for not raising as much money, but I will say that you have made my mother very happy.

Our fundraising winner again this year is Billy!  He raised $150, which is awesome.  Billy wins a gift basket from the Teen Advisory Board with a $25 gift card to Amazon.com, as well as snacks and library swag.  Honorable mentions go to Alex R., Colin, and Grace for each raising $50 or more.  

Thanks to everyone for making this year's Random-A-Thon a success!

Billy's gift basket

Mario Night

As part of Teen Tech Week, we had our first-ever Mario Night last Friday.  Fourteen people showed up and we had fun playing all kinds of Mario games.  We played Mario Kart Wii, various Mario games on DS, Dr. Mario on the NES, and a variety of other Mario games on a second Wii.  I also gave away random Mario prizes throughout the evening.  (If you want your own Mario stuff, go to Five Below...they have all kinds of candy, toys, and t-shirts!)

Competition was tough in the Mario Kart Wii tournament!  Rather than brackets, we compiled points for the races.  After two rounds of two races each, the four guys with the most points moved on to the finals.  Roy, Jamie, Alex, and Colin competed, and it was a nail-biter.  Colin beat Roy by one point!  Colin received a $10 Wawa gift card and Roy got a Mario t-shirt.  All four finalists also got candy.

I had been bragging for a while before the event that nobody could beat me at Dr. Mario.  I pretty much killed everyone with my skills...except for Jaime.  In my defense, I didn't practice beforehand,  it was my first game, and I voluntarily took the broken controller.  Nonetheless, he did beat me and I can accept that.  He was the only person who got candy in the Dr. Mario competition!  I am definitely buying a new controller from eBay!

Thanks to David for providing his Wii and games, John for controlling the controllers, and Colin for bringing his N64.  Look for our regular Nintendo Night tournament on the spring program schedule.

iPod Music Party

On Wednesday, 11 teens showed up after school for our Teen Tech Week music program.  Everyone took turns connecting their mp3 players to our speakers and playing music.  (Of course, there were a few rules about appropriateness, but everyone cooperated.)  We heard everything from traditional Irish music to French rap to 80s hair metal!  While listening, people ate snacks, made a craft, and played some games using the "random" or "shuffle" feature on the mp3 players.  The craft was especially popular...we made mp3 player holders out of old jean pockets!  People decorated them with ribbon, trim, and Sharpie markers.  They turned out really well, and a few people made more than one.  Those will definitely turn up at the next Craft Closet Cleanout, so count on that if you missed this event!

People working on their pockets.  (Sorry it's blurry...I took it with my phone.) 

Finished products!

Leap Day 2012

On Wednesday, February 29, 16 teens came by after school to celebrate Leap Day!  We did a Leap Year Mad-Lib, made chocolate-dipped bunny cookies, did Leap Year trivia, and wrote letters to ourselves to open on 2/29/2016.  In our standing long jump competition, Alvin, Siaka, and Owen came in first, second, and third.  Blya won the math prize for figuring out how old she would be next time Leap Day is a Wednesday (add 28 years to your age).  We also made and raced origami frogs.  We did four heats, and then a final race with the winners.  Owen ultimately won the competition and got a frog key chain that lit up and made frog noises.  Other prizes for the day included wind-up hopping chicks, jump-the-peg bunny brain games, and jumping beans games, stretchy flying frogs, and bouncing glow-in-the-dark egg balls.  (Dollar Tree and Oriental Trading are the best!)  Everyone got at least one thing to take home. I had a few other activities planned that we didn't get to do, so I'll have to save those for 2016!  It was a fun celebration...check out our racing frogs:

2012 Random-A-Thon!

Last Saturday, 40 teens descended on the library for our third annual Random-A-Thon!  (Were you there in 2010 or 2011?)  It was our best attendance ever.  We've only raised $748 so far, though, so keep working on it!  I will seriously cut my hair into a mohawk if we can get to $1000.  You have until March 11 to turn in all of your money!!

The Random-A-Thon has a loose schedule of events just to help people know when to show up if they're not staying all day.  We brought back some favorites from last year, like watching childhood cartoons, doing duct tape crafts, playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and having a Connect Four tournament.  Genni had some tough competition, but ultimately won in Connect Four.  (Extra thanks to Owen for volunteering to take care of the brackets for me during the tournament.)  We added some new video games and DVDs, as well as fun crafts like license plate journals.  We had also planned some things that didn't happen, like beaded crafts and bingo, so we'll save those for another time!

Lunch this year was grilled cheese or peanut butter/jelly/marshmallow fluff, with veggies and dip and chips, and soda to drink.  Of course, there was much snacking all day and people were stuffed by the time they left!  Throughout the day, we had pop-up activities from the Jar of Randomness.  We did everything from dancing the Cha Cha Slide to decorating cupcakes to making sand art to eating Ring Pops!  Special thanks to Grace for making Pop Culture Jeopardy as one of these random additions.  It was very cool.  Some of the activities involved prizes, and here are the winners:

• Siaka won the candy jar guessing game with an exact guess of 87
• Nikki won a soft pretzel maker in a random drawing
• Genni and Alex each won a tic-tac-toe tournament

Winners got real prizes, but we also had our infamous Prize Box of Randomness.  I filled it will bizarre donated items, leftover prizes from other events, Happy Meal toys, weird swap-rack books, and anything else I could find.  The Prize Box of Randomness must not be looked upon; it will bestow upon you the item that is right.  Everyone got something from the box throughout the day by reaching in with eyes closed!

Thanks to all of the TAB members for contributing snack food to the Random-A-Thon.  Extra thanks to Laurel, Emily, Billy, and me for bringing in homemade goodies!  And huge thanks to Kara Naklicki for spending her college volunteer hours with us.  I seriously couldn't have survived the Random-A-Thon without her help!

 Just Dance

 Duct Tape Crafts

 Sand Art

 Apples to Apples

License Plate Journals

Public Art in Philadelphia

At Philadelphia Night, we talked about the wealth of public art that you can see on the streets of our city.  From famous sculptures to murals to knitting, it's all out there!

To learn more about Philadelphia's public art, look at:

Fairmount Park Art Association
Check out their clickable map to find public art.

Streets Dept
Get tips on Philly street art, then go see it before it's gone!

Philadelphia Public Art
Take yourself on one of their 30 self-guided tours.

Visit Philly:  Public Art
Read more about the city's outdoor art and see excellent photographs.

Mural Arts:  Mural Explorer
Check out some of the giant-sized artwork Philly is famous for.

Philadelphia Night

Last night 13 people came out for Philadelphia Night. Some of our activities included labeling ourselves with names of famous Philadelphians (I was Michael Nutter) and matching ourselves to our occupations, taking a Tastykake spelling test, and doing a cheesesteak trivia contest. Arig won Find a Famous Philadelphian, Katie and Siaka won the spelling test, and Anas won the cheesesteak trivia. They all got boxes of Tastykakes to take home! We talked about public art in Philly, and, in honor of Claes Oldenburg's Clothespin sculpture, we made clothespin magnets. They're super-easy, and great for the fridge or locker! We painted ours with watercolor first to make them more exciting. We also watched movie clips of National Treasure and Rocky, and ate soft pretzels and water ice. I'd say we had a great time appreciating what we love about Philly!

Shorell's clothespin magnets

Winter Nintendo Night

Last Friday, 29 teens showed up for our winter Nintendo Night.  This was a relatively small group for this program, so things were a bit more relaxed than usual!  The Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament had 27 entrants and I made a full bracket of 32 by randomly selecting those who lost to re-enter the tournament.  The final ended up being Colin and James vs. David J. and John E.  David and John won, each receiving a $20 gift card to Game Stop.  They are not allowed to team together next time!  The other six guys in the semi-final round (Siaka, Le, Munir, Colton, Colin, and James) received candy.

In the Naruto Shippuden III tournament, 12 people competed down to a three-way final.  We played that final round-robin style, and Alex P. was the winner of the $10 Wawa gift card after two games.  David T. beat out Dennis W. for the second-place prize, a $5 Wawa gift card.  Dennis W. got candy for being a finalist.  (The Wawa cards were purchased with donations from our recent gift card fundraiser!)  Both tournaments ended a little early, leaving time for free play on both games.  People also enjoyed DS games, Pokemon Stadium on the N64, and sodas during the evening.  And yes, the Yu-Gi-Oh cards were allowed, even though they're not from Nintendo!

Thanks to John E. for keeping the controllers under control, to David J. for bringing his Wii and games, and to Maria for digging up her N64.  This program would not have run as smoothly without your help!  Look for another Nintendo Night program on the spring schedule, which will include a DS Pokemon tournament.  Also, don't forget about Mario Night on Friday, March 9.

Brain Break 2012

Last Wednesday, 16 teens stopped by for Brain Break, our end-of-the-semester study break!  We did challenges from Minute to Win It to get chocolate, played Rock Band and Just Dance, and made papercraft Angry Birds.  I had planned to use them to knock down towers, but most people didn't want to mess up their creations!  Some gamers showed up as well, playing Yu-Gi-Oh! and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (of course).  Everyone enjoyed the selection of comfort food, which included candy, chips, homemade cookie-brownie swirl bars (yum!), and hot chocolate with big marshmallows.  Jared won a $10 gift card to Wawa in a random drawing, courtesy of our gift card fundraiser.  And, now that all of your brains are rested, enjoy the second semester!!

Some of our Angry Birds

Minute to Win It challenge: Getting a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands.

Minute to Win It challenge:  Stacking six dice on a craft stick held in the mouth.

Minute to Win It challenge:  Getting six penne noodles on the spaghetti without using your hands.