Recap: Look Back at Summer Teen Advisory Boards

Summer offers children endless opportunities, from working and vacations, to spending time with friends or catching up on their to be read (TBR) lists. This summer, nearly 150 teenagers dedicated dozens of hours to participating in our summer Teen Advisory Board (TAB). Each branch hosted a group of TAB members, where the teens planned, organized and completed a community service project. Scroll through the below photos to see highlights from this year’s program.

Arbutus

Teens at our Arbutus Branch created zines and a magazine that featured art, book recommendations, poetry and short stories from their community.

Zines are self-published booklets, created by physically cutting and gluing text and images together onto a master flat before photocopying, folding and stapling them together.

Cockeysville

At the Cockeysville branch, teenagers hosted a program called "Kindness Rock Garden."

Children painted rocks with inspirational messages.

Essex

The Essex TAB group created a safe space for the branch’s resident mallard duck, Mrs. Pickles, to nest next spring.

They also painted flowerpots to grow herbs in for Pickles and her ducklings next year.

Hereford

Hereford teens also hosted a program to paint rocks for their garden.

Loch Raven

This summer TAB group wanted to help beautify the bridge leading to the Loch Raven Branch.

Teens pulled weeds and added rocks and mulch to several flower beds.

North Point

Our North Point teens created a program called "Learning About Wildlife" where children could listen to a story and then create wildlife-themed crafts.

Owings Mills

Teenagers at our Owings Mills Branch held a crochet day.

The teens encouraged their peers to disconnect from social media and hang out with friends.

Participants left with a granny square coaster.

Parkville-Carney

This TAB group wanted to help smaller kids keep their reading and math education top of mind during the summer months.

They hosted a math program with games for all ages.

Then, a "Read Together Now" program, where children could read to the teens or they could read together.

Perry Hall

Our Perry Hall teens wanted to celebrate the diversity and culture in Baltimore County.

Teens split into groups to create a display of their country of choice featuring books, food, clothing, dancing and more.

Pikesville

The Pikesville TAB group wanted to share the knowledge all summer long!

They hosted Crafternoons each Monday with a variety of paper crafts.

Randallstown

Showing that education can be fun was the goal of the Randallstown TAB group.

They held a program called "Come Blow Off Some STEAM," with each station holding a different craft or activity.

Reisterstown

The Reisterstown summer TAB also held a culture fair.

The fair featured different countries around the world.

Rosedale

The Rosedale teens wanted to help children find their inner superheroes by creating a take-home kit with everything someone would need to make face masks.

Participants could mimic their favorite superhero or create one of their own.

Towson

This TAB group held a program to help children unwind before the school year started back up.

Participants could enjoy a series of arts and crafts, including nanotape fidgets and slime.

White Marsh

Teenagers at our White Marsh branch focused on health for ourselves and the world.

They created a wall mural out of recycled materials and set up a health and wellness display for others to enjoy.

Woodlawn

And last, but certainly not least, the Woodlawn TAB group created fleece, no-sew blankets for patients at John Hopkins Children’s Center Hospital.