Kenyatta Rowel is uniquely qualified for his job as teen services director at the Boys & Girls Club at Wiley H. Bates Heritage Park in Annapolis, the newest of five Clubs that are part of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County (BGCAA).
The sparkling 26,000 square foot facility, which opened in 2007, was made possible through the collaboration of a dedicated group of funders, including the SunTrust Mid-Atlantic Foundation, France-Merrick Foundation, Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Marion I. & Henry J. Knott Foundation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and Comcast.
Rowel spent his own formative years at the area's Bywater Boys & Girls Club in Annapolis, cultivating his many athletic, academic, and creative talents. As a teenager, he took part in leadership development activities and mentored younger children, leading peer mediation groups and chaperoning trips. A polished writer who now has published a book, Kenyatta vividly remembers being asked to recite his very first poem at a Boys & Girls Club banquet.
"Basically, the Club was my life. I would not have been introduced to things like college, academia, writing, or a professional career," says Rowel, a proud graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore who excelled in school and was active in sports, chess club and film club while continuing to pursue his writing.
"The Boys and Girls Clubs do a wonderful job of bringing children together in a neutral environment where they can become friends, and if you're friends, that means you don't fight," says Hank Libby, President of the Carol M. Jacobsohn Foundation, a long time supporter of the BGCAA and funder of the teen center in the new Bates facility.
The Boys and Girls Clubs offers a broad range of programs for young people from age five age 18, and serve more than 7,000 young people annually. The funding community's support of the new facility and of BGCAA in general "really has shown that it cares about its young people," notes Reginald Broddie, chief professional officer at the Bates Club.
