“I’m basically a product of the Boys & Girls Club,” said Scott Robinson, recently appointed branch director of the new Boys & Girls Club of Malibu, at a recent meeting of the Malibu Youth Coalition.
The Boys & Girls Club of Malibu, expected to open July 10, is located in modular buildings on the Malibu High School campus.
Robinson, 38, is leaving his job as Director of Branch Operations at the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Monica, a position he has held for 10 years. He lived across the street from the Santa Monica club, located on Lincoln Boulevard, since he was four years old.
“I know how the club saved me,” Robinson said, referring to the drugs and alcohol that led him astray in earlier years.
Robinson’s two children (a 12-year-old son, and 8-year-old daughter) now go to the club.
” It’s a place to go, there are things to do,” said Robinson.
Robinson was awarded his Associate of Arts from Santa Monica College and taught physical education at Carl Thorp School for eight years before becoming activities director for the Santa Monica club. His teaching experience serving him well, Robinson initiated outreach to school sites in Santa Monica and plans to do the same in Malibu.
“Let’s not reinvent the wheel,” he said.
A single father for five years, Robinson recently married Kara, who works with the Boys & Girls Club in east Los Angeles.
“I’m blessed,” Robinson said of Kara.
Robinson starts off in Malibu with the boost of having received the 1999 Professional of the Year award from the Pacific Region of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and being invited to join national Boys & Girls club McCabe Leadership Training Program.
He has been working at Malibu High for a month, seeking out the kids at Malibu High, Bluffs Park, Papa Jack Skateboard Park and local skate/surf hangouts such as Clout Skateboards and Becker Surf & Sport. He said he wants to identify kids needs.
Malibu club to open next month
Laure Stern, president of the Malibu Youth Foundation for Youth & Families, which is supporting the Malibu club, says July 10 is the target date to open one of the fully renovated modular buildings that have been at the school campus for one month.
A lunch time high school skating demonstration is planned for the opening, Robinson said. Eleventh grader Tyler Lemkin, sponsored by Clout, and eighth grader Blake Mills, sponsored by Becker, will give the demonstrations.
At the end of the summer, just before school starts, there will be a community picnic and construction party/fund-raiser for the club. “It’s kind of like an old fashioned barn raising,” said Stern.
Robinson added he wants to make club safe and comfortable, and a “cool” place for after-school activities.
“No matter what we offer, kids don’t want to be in school. This will be a challenge,” Robinson said.
The pool tables will be “a draw,” he added.
The club will also have: A learning center with a computer lab and homework assistance, plus incentives of movies and pizza parties and juice bar/smoothies; and a beauty parlor, which is for boys too. “Older girls relate to younger ones that way,” Robinson said. Stylist seminars, career exploration, personal grooming courses will also be offered.
This is not the traditional Boys & Girls Club concept, but this is Malibu,” said Robinson.
For information about the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu or the Malibu Youth Coalition, an alliance that determines the needs of youth, call 589.8363.