2013-2014 Highlights from a year and a half of TAG with Brandy as president…

expanding community partnerships and hosting fun, engaging events that show the community that downtown Ypsi teens are engaged in positive activities!

2013 February Brandy’s tenure as

TAG President begins.

March Relationship

Workshops are hosted by the Safe House in the Teen Zone, to help combat violence in relationships and to encourage healthy communication in relationships.

April The book club

celebrates National Poetry Month by reading The Rose that Grew from Concrete by Tupac.

May Prom Dress Fashion

Runway! YDL-Michigan teens partner with The Corner Health Center to showcase dresses available for area high school students who need a prom dress. TAG members turn the library’s reading room into a fashion runway with help from Joy and her husband Rick. Sixteen young women model dresses and are escorted by four young men onto the runway. DeJaun and Darius emcee the event. More volunteers help with hair, makeup and accessorizing the models.

June Four Shout it Out

interns and three Summer Reading interns are hired with grant money from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Young Adult Library Services Association. The summer reading interns rework the teen summer reading program into an online game played through a blog with more prizes and it significantly increases teen participation at Michigan Avenue. The Shout It Out interns are paid to learn the ins and outs of producing a multi-act performance from Washtenaw Community College students. Work on both projects extends throughout the summer.

July Shout it Out prep

continues all month as interns audition performers! Brandy and Adom write and arrange a song with help from Toko and Erik of the local group October Babies. Interns and other TAG musicians arrange a live instrumental for freeestylers with help from Jodi’s husband Kurt. WCC intern Susan, an R&B vocalist, works with performers on confidence and stage presence.

A three-point shootout is hosted at Parkridge Park by Summer Reading interns to encourage participation in the Summer Game!

August Shout it Out III is

held in the Library Park Plaza. Five interns host the 2½ hour show filled with music, dancing and fun, including a DJ and sloppy joes for performers.

YDL has a library table for the first time at Noise Permit, helping promote the library’s teen activities. Several acts from Shout It Out perform on the Noise Permit stage in Frog Island Park.

September TAG hosts a

table at the second Corner Health Block Party Rock the Block. Crafts, games and music instruments highlight what the library offers teens. Teens can win books by playing games.

October YDL-Michigan teens take a taxi ride to YDL-Whittaker for the Songwriting Festival where they work with John E. Lawrence on an original piece of music!

The second TAG Halloween Haunted House features zombies. It is too successful for the library to handle! Next year’s activities will be during regular library hours but hopefully still full of fun.

December TAG members

decorate the Teen Zone for the first time ever with lights and handmade ornaments. The first TAG hosted Teen Art Exhibit is put on display.

2014 January Mr. Cliffnote, airbrush paint artist from Detroit, shows his trade.

February Teens make

chocolate covered strawberries and origami boxes at Sweets for your Sweet Valentine’s program.

March A grant from YALSA

provides funds for Teen Tech Week activities with local rapper and producer Jesse Givens, aka Magestik Legend.

April Joy arranges a fieldtrip

to Annette Bering’s Glass Studio. Teens take a bus ride to the studio, learn to blow glass and each make a personalized tile. Tiles are then exhibited on the main floor of the library throughout the summer.

The book club hosts a book giveaway with funds from a Books for Teens grant!

May TAG rents Mix Studio

Theater for a small showcase featuring teen poetry and music.

June Four more interns are

hired for this year’s Shout It Out and the summer fun begins again!

August Shout it Out IV is

held in the Library Park Plaza. Graham Lapp DJs, t-shirts are given away, the evening’s best act voted on by the audience wins a spot on the Heritage Festival’s main stage! Every year it grows thanks to dedicated TAG members.

Reading, writing, speaking, singing, learning, cooking, gaming, art, crafts, film, leadership, responsibility, respect, community, fun, friends…

Ypsilanti District Library-Michigan Avenue Teen Advisory Group Following the mission of the Ypsilanti District Library…

enriching life, stimulating intellectual curiosity, fostering literacy, and encouraging an informed citizenry!