Local junior high school girls will have an opportunity to get creative and interact without boys on Feb. 24 at another of the city’s Girls’ Night Out events.
Attendees of Girls’ Night Out, a girls-only event hosted by the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center staff, will meet at the community center and head together to Anam Cre Pottery Studio in San Luis Obispo at noon that Saturday. Staff members will chaperone the trip.
While transportation and registration will be free, participants will need $30 for studio fees, according to the Recreation and Parks Department.
The program started nearly 10 years ago as an opportunity for girls in junior high and high school to get together without the pressures of boys being present, according to Jason Davie, a city staffer who oversees youth and teen programs.
“We have quite a few activities for boys, or for what boys might be interested in,” Davie said in an interview with the Sun. “And years ago we had girls who said they wanted more.”
Eventually, Davie said some parents of junior high school students said they didn’t like their daughters hanging out with high school girls, and the event was closed to high school students. Regardless of age groups, Davie said the program is still popular.
City staff already hosted one Girls’ Night Out event this year—a spa day at the youth center—and two more are scheduled for March and April. Both of those events, devoted to painting and a bonfire at Grover Beach, will be free of charge.
A waiver must be signed and returned to the city prior to each activity.
Registration is available online at cityofsantamaria.com/register, at the Recreation and Parks Department’s administrative office—615 S. McClelland St.—Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center—600 S. McClelland St.—Monday through Friday from 1 to 7:30 p.m.
This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 1, 2018.