A Message From Our Director

“Expect Excellence”
What is the expectation of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast (BGCGC)? Well, to find that out we must first ask ourselves what our own expectations are. We must all first expect excellence of ourselves. That is the one thing WE CAN control. We can’t have expectations of others, if we don’t have them of ourselves. Our expectations as program staff, administrative staff, and as an organization, must be that of excellence.

We must expect excellence of our youth. Our youth will strive to meet expectations, so excellence must be the only acceptable outcome. They can only achieve this if we surround them with quality program staff whose sole purpose is to make a positive IMPACT on our their lives. We must create an environment which encourages positive behaviors by both youth and staff. Whether we are in an entire wing of a school or just an abandoned gym closet, we make it ours; when we have pride in our club, the youth will follow suit.

Our programming must be excellent as well. We boast of all the wonderful things happening at the Boys & Girls Clubs. We must raise the bar even higher. We must mold and develop young minds by stimulating them with creative programs. We must be diverse in our objectives and outcomes. We must make sure that we are exposing our youth to everything that we can. It is our responsibility to provide the young people that come in our doors, with the tools to be successful in life.

So I challenge each of us to wake up each morning, look in the mirror, and say “What am I going to do today that is excellent.” We must all strive to be excellent in all that we do. We must be excellent workers, excellent mothers, excellent fathers, excellent spouses, excellent sons and daughters. We must all set our goals and standards high because, the expectation of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Gulf Coast is, YOU KNOW…

Sam Burke
Executive Director