Focus on TUSD - May 2007

Click Clubhouse to Open on Roberts Elementary Campus
When the school day ends at Roberts Elementary School next year, students won't have far to go for after-school activities.

Ground was broken May 1 for the sixth Boys & Girls Clubs branch in Tucson, this one on the Roberts campus. The 15,000-square-foot getaway will open early next year at 4355 E. Calle Aurora, near South Columbus Boulevard and East 29th Street.

The new club will be called the Jim and Vicki Click Clubhouse in honor of the Tucson businessman and his wife. Mark Irvin, a Boys and Girls Clubs board member, said they have tried for years to name a clubhouse for the couple, but Jim Click always suggested other people. This time, he agreed to the suggestion, pointing out that the new clubhouse is close to one of his automobile dealerships and to Naylor Middle School, where Click said he has been involved for years. Board members pointed out that Click has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars and helped raise millions for Tucson youth clubs.

At the groundbreaking, 20 gold-plated shovels, each topped by a white hard hat, sat upright in a row of turned-over dirt. In teams of two, one person turning the dirt and the other wearing the hat, ground was broken for the center.

The clubhouse is next door to the Head Start center, where Manager Gina Lopez said, "We are excited to form a partnership. Parents who come to Head Start will use the new center, too."

The club will serve about 1,000 children at no cost to them. The building will house a computer lab, library, game room and full-sized gym, said Elizabeth Bollinger, development director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson. It will be open after school, on the weekends and on holidays. The club is on the city bus line.

About five years ago, fund-raisers secured $2.5 million for the building, but construction was delayed until an additional $350,000 was raised for annual operating expenses.
This is the second clubhouse on TUSD property. The first one was built on the Doolen Middle School campus. Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson serve about 6,000 children.

Armando Rios, a Boys & Girls Clubs board member for 16 years, said the clubs have helped thousands of children since the organization began in 1963. As the only board member who used a club as a youngster, he said, the clubhouse offered him a second chance. "For many children who will come to the clubhouse it will be their first chance at success," he said.
And Donna Higginbotham-Perkins, who has been president of the Roberts Neighborhood Association for a year, said the center would give children hope for the future. "We're talking about change for a generation to come. When I heard about it, I said it didn't sound real to me. It sounded so fantastic. It's awesome to me. Wow!"

-- By Sharon Dunham
Communications & Media Relations

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

All photos in the May issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations.

The deadline to submit material for the June Focus is Friday, June 8. The Focus will be published Monday, June 18. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the Focus Online Submission Form.