The Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Youth Center was named the Best Youth Center in the Air Education and Training Command for 2015 by AETC officials.
Thomas Lynds, who teaches science classes at the center, credited the three JBSA Youth Centers’ joint success in serving the military community with a variety of resources, programs and services throughout the year.
"We survey our clients to see what services they would like delivered," he said. "The three centers get together and make sure we have resources available to deliver the services where they are needed most. For example, JBSA-Lackland has more pre-teens and teenagers than younger children. Our average daily attendance for teens is pretty high compared to other installations around the world."
The youth center serves 3,200 children annually with various programs, which contributed to the award recognition.
During the year, 375 coaches volunteered 93,000 hours for the 1,500 children who participated in its sports programs.
While praising the sports programs, Lynds also touted its school age care, recreational and teen programs. Moreover, he acknowledged the staff members’ diverse training in child safety as another reason for its success.
"Their knowledge contributes to the youth centers being the grassroots for educational and life lessons," he added.
"We teach children that education will get them somewhere," Lynds said. "Sometimes they don’t understand what is being taught in school. When they come here, we teach them how those theories turn into real-life les-sons. From those real-life lessons, we plant a seed, water it and watch it grow. We mentor and coach children all day long."
To continue to better serve youth’s needs on and off base, the youth center partners with the local YMCA, Boys and Girls Club and 4-H.
4-H is considered United States’ largest positive youth development and youth mentoring organization, empowering 6 million young people with pro-grams designed to help them become responsible citizens leading healthy and productive lives, according to their website, http://www.4-h.org.
Lynds calls the partnerships a "win-win."
"Our children get to integrate with those organizations’ children and see how they are pursuing their education while they get to see the military children’s lifestyle, which includes families moving every two to three years," he said. "Of course, the military children will see how civilian youth grow up in a neighborhood from birth. It’s a little bit of a culture change and it’s pretty cool."
Lynds encourages Department of Defense families to visit youth centers to understand the positive impact they can have on children.
"We were recognized for a reason," he said. "That reason is the impact we have on the community. They just need to come into one of our centers and see what it is we can do for their families. It will blow their minds."
For more information about JBSA-Lackland Youth Center programs, call 671-2388. Front office hours are 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The youth center is located at 2361 Selfridge Avenue, building 8420.