School's Out For Summer!

School's out and the Kadena Youth Center is here to help you keep the kids entertained! With summer comes extended hours. The Youth Center will be open Monday thru Saturday from 12:00-6:00pm.

Along with extended hours, we've got some great activities and field trips planned! In July we have field trips to Okinawa World and Torii Beach, a Deployed Field Trip to Round One, as well as dances and water fun nights! Most of our events require pre-registration so please take a look at our calendar (available at the Youth Center and in Venture Magazine) and get your youth signed up.

Also, Kadena Youth Center is now on Facebook! Become a FAN of "Kadena Youth Center" to stay up to date on upcoming events!

Have a great summer and we look forward to seeing you at the Youth Center!

It's so hard to say good-bye...

As all of us associated with the military know, there comes a time when we have to say farewell to friends. Recently, Ms. Mary PCSed to Albuquerque. Ms.Mary was a favorite among the kids and lead the sign language and science clubs.

Good luck Ms. Mary! No good-byes because in this small military world our paths will cross again!

Hiji Falls

The Explore Your World 101 club, an outdoor exploration club, recently took a field trip to Hiji Falls. Before going on the field trip they had sessions where they learned basic hiking tips, orienteering, and basic wilderness first aid.
After our van ride the kids were ready to burn off some energy and hike!


Almost as soon as we got on the trail we started noticing these guys:

There were literally dozens of them making their way to the stream to mate. We think the hard rains the night before signaled to them that it was time to find a partner. After sending the photos to a USGS herpetologist, we are pretty certain that they are Okinawan newts, a threatened species - a very cool find indeed!

We left the newts behind as we continued our ascent of Hiji Falls:


This hike wasn't easy, but the kids pushed through and conquered the stairs. Along the way they got some pretty amazing views:


When we finally made it to the top we were rewarded for our hard efforts with this beautiful sight:


Although hot and tired, everyone had a great time at Hiji Falls!

Kadena Youth Center's New Blog

Kadena Youth Center is creating this blog in an attempt to keep the youth and their families better informed. Please be patient while we get the site up and running. We have already put up a page with information about our rec room staff. We plan on posting the monthly calendar as well as information about upcoming events. Once we establish our journalism club, the youth will be contributing articles on the Kadena Youth Center happenings. Please bookmark our page or become a follower of this blog so you can keep updated on our progress.