Youth Organizations

Weightlifting some Olympic-Sized Dreams

St. Joseph has a history of Olympic weightlifting champions, including Pete Kelley, who is part of many area leaders carrying on that tradition. The city’s official Olympic weightlifting program, Team Wesley, has produced numerous national champions, United States Olympic Weightlifting Team members and world-class youth who know the value of hard work to achieve their goals in sports and in life. Many of the youth who have lifted weights at Wesley Center say their participation in weightlifting helped them achieve their college and career goals.

emPowerU Campus and Experience: Truly Unique

The emPowerU campus and leadership program, set in a remarkable collaborative space near downtown, offers courses for students from elementary through high-school a chance to solve real challenges in a group setting. During the summer, STEAM courses are offered here. Students can work together during emPowerU experiences and then present their own solutions in the structure’s stage area. This innovative program to build leaders is a part of the Heartland Foundation, and area clubs and organizations utilize this one-of-a-kind space as they develop our next generation of leaders.

LEARN LINKS

Early Childhood Public K-12 Private K-12 Homeschool K-12 Higher Education Youth Organizations Lifelong Learning Online Enrichment

Growing Minds, Relationships and Futures

Youth organizations in St. Joseph touch on every element of a child’s success, without the logistical challenges and added expenses of a big city. From elementary-aged children through high school, students can learn, explore and connect in St. Joseph. Here’s just a snapshot of what are youth organizations are up to in our town.

A boy participates in an educational session at emPowerU (left) and team-building lessons teach young men at the Pony Express Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Across our public and private schools, you’ll find so many opportunities to connect. You’ll find clubs for Math, Latin, French, Theater and Creative Writing. We offer Young Life at many schools and additional youth programs like South Side Youth Outreach. For middle school and high school students, new robotics clubs are forming to focus on learning across science and technology. At the middle school level, students can participate in band, choir and leadership organizations. The St. Joseph Chess Club continues to strategize and grow, and the area community theater programs, such as RRT, highlight student talent on-stage in a collaborative setting. Whatever your student is interested in, you’ll find a club or organization to expand that journey.

LEADERSHIP

The emPowerU campus and leadership program is the region’s premier service-learning environment. The goal is to offer youth an opportunity to become agents of positive impact while also building 21st century workforce skills. The leadership team at this remarkable experiential learning space works closely with area schools and youth development organizations throughout the year. The St. Joseph Youth Alliance, established in 1991, works alongside community partners in Northwest Missouri to make sure local children and teens have the brightest futures possible. This includes initiatives for avoiding drug use and alcohol, connecting teens with mentoring and service experiences and boosting the resources of area early child development centers. (If you’ve got teens, check out the summer youth volunteer program at Youth Alliance).

SPORTS CLUBS

From soccer to ice skating and baseball; from swimming to tennis and more, St. Joseph has many youth sports clubs and associations to choose from. The St. Joseph Youth Soccer Association operates with seasons year-round. Pony Express Baseball continues to grow future baseball athletes. Youth swimming is available through the Pony Express Swim Club and the Savannah Swim Team. Summer Jam basketball teams and Summer Spike volleyball teams are a highlight for many area youth, two well-organized programs managed by InterServ. This non-profit organization also offers an after school club and weightlifting at its Wesley Center location. Younger students will enjoy the Upward basketball and cheerleading programs in St. Joseph. Many national names in figure skating have kickstarted their career at Bode Ice Arena, where you’ll find an active and competitive St. Joseph Figure Skating Club (plus youth ice hockey, too). Bantam youth football is a fall tradition across the city, plus an indoor flag football league at the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex.

SCOUTING

Scouting in St. Joseph is an active, enriching experience. Girl Scouts is active across many schools in St. Joseph, utilizing nearby Camp Farwesta and several other camps in the region. Come January-March, you can help our young women learn important business managment skills by filling your pantries with their cookies. They can be found the rest of the year with their parents and troop leaders learning important G.I.R.L. (Go-Getter, Innovation, Risk-Taker, Leadership) skills through education and community service projects.

Several Boy Scout packs and dens also unite kids and parents in leadership and service. Camp Geiger is one of the Midwest’s top boy scout camp locations, drawing hundreds of scouters each summer to its professional ropes course, zip line, shooting range, amphitheater and many newer structures. Girl Scouts is also active across many schools in St. Joseph, utilizing nearby Camp Farwesta.