A Chat with Champion for Youth, Boys & Girls Club Buena Park

The Boys & Girls Club Buena Park has been a partner of Child Creativity Lab since the COVID-19 pandemic. We were honored to provide them with hands-on STEAM enrichment at a time when students’ learning was almost entirely screen-based and isolated. They have been an incredible partner, and we have loved serving their children. This year, we have the pleasure of honoring the Boys & Girls Club at our upcoming event “From The Heart” on Friday, April 19, because of their commitment to STEAM and the youth of Orange County.

Director of Partnerships, Katy McInnes, met with Luz Trout, Director of Operations at the Boys & Girls Club Buena Park, to chat about her long tenure with the Club, safe spaces for children, and the magic of serving youth. 

KM: What does creativity mean to you?

LT: I lean more on what you would traditionally define as a creative person. I love the arts, I love drawing, I love glitter, I love color! I also think of creativity through the eyes of a mentor, like our staff at the Boys & Girls Club, they pour so much of their own creative styles into the enrichment opportunities we offer. Everyone brings something new to the table. We see creativity happening all around us every day on the soccer field, during homework time, in the way our kids problem-solve…the way that they communicate. We even see it in the way that they try to get around the rules! Creativity truly is being able to think outside the box, being able to problem solve, and in its simplest form, creativity is how you take your common sense to the next level. It’s common sense on fire.

KM: What is the history of the Boys & Girls Club Buena Park and what makes it unique?

LT: Carl and Edith Rehnborg started the Kids Club in 1948 as a safe place for boys to grow and play. They brought together a group of community leaders to create an afterschool clubhouse environment for children and adolescents. Over the years, it has evolved into what is now known as The Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park. Through the continued involvement of the Rehnborg’s son Dr. Sam Rehnborg, and the support of many Nutrilite suppliers and employees, the Club grew into a safe and nurturing environment for our youth and teens. Since 1948, the Club has truly evolved. There used to be a boxing ring and our teen center used to be a rock polishing station. If you come and take a tour, there are a lot of little things that I could show you here that have been here longer than I have. While I love many things about the Club and its history, I am always the most proud of our team. Todd (CEO of Boys & Girls Club, Todd Trout) has been here for 28 years. This is my 19th year. We have seven, former club kids on staff right now. Every year the bar is set higher and higher for incoming staff members and people who want to join our full-time team. Everyone gives so much of themselves to make the Club what it is. 

KM: Why is STEAM education so important for the students of Orange County, but especially in the cities that you serve at the Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park?

LT: 61% of the youth we serve fall well below the poverty line. We know that a lot of them might not be able to pursue four-year degrees or that they might have to go to college at a later time. STEAM education gives them the opportunity to step into the workforce right after high school. It provides them with new skills and enhances their self-esteem. We do a podcast at the Club and students are pursuing audio engineering in real-time by recording, editing, and producing our episodes. We have a member who has loved working on the podcast so much. He had shared that he didn’t think he’d be good at something like this, but now this has given him the confidence to try dabbling in other hobbies. He asked for an electric guitar for Christmas and got one (with the help of the Club) and now he's teaching himself how to play. And it wouldn't have happened if he didn’t have this opportunity in STEAM. STEAM truly pushes our kiddos to try new things without the fear of failure, especially the way CCL has set up their curriculum.

KM: Why are nurturing spaces like the Boys & Girls Club so important for students? 

LT: We bring magic that schools can’t necessarily offer because our educators are already taxed with so much. Our staff is here to offer different enrichment opportunities and fill in the gaps, it truly takes a village. I always tell our kiddos, especially our Teens, I'm not your teacher, I'm not your parent, I'm just this extra adult that you get to have in life. I just want to love you, see you succeed, grow, and cheer you on! We’ve also learned that sometimes “big titles” can be intimidating to our youth, and those are stripped away at the Club. While these titles are important in a school setting, they are not needed at the Club. I'm not Miss Luz or Mrs. Trout. I’m just Luz. We’ve seen how something so simple immediately creates trust. We strive to create a space that's not only physically safe, but also where our students are emotionally safe. There’s a Club saying that goes, “We’re not family by blood, but we’re family by Club”. 

KM: What goes into making a safe, supportive space for students? 

LT: It really all comes down to the basics. Our Club offers so many wonderful things, but at the end of the day if the spaces, supplies, furniture, etc. aren’t taken care of, none of that matters. We want to make sure that when we give our new members a tour, they step into a space that already feels like home. We do that by ensuring the Club is always clean and kept up to date. First impressions are crucial, especially when you’re dealing with youth. If the space feels warm and welcoming, we know that once they meet our team, they’re in! A few years ago, our amazing partners at Knott’s Berry Farm created the most beautiful “backyard” space for us. The look on our kids' faces when they saw it was something that I’ll never forget. The upkeep of that space is a lot of work, but every time a new member walks outside and sees it, it makes all that extra effort worth it! And of course, our staff is what makes the Club so special. You can have the best programming, all the gadgets and gizmos, and the best presenters, but if you don't have staff who care, it doesn’t work. So many of our staff are former club kids and they've experienced it. They know firsthand what that staff meant to them when they were a member here, what it felt like to be able to walk into the club and see their favorite staff member. I tell the staff all the time, you guys, the kids don't show up just for soccer. They show up for you. Like, “Mike, (Boys & Girls Club Athletics Director) that gym is booming every single day because these kids show up for you.” He was on vacation one day a couple weeks ago, and it was like the end of the world. All the kids were like, “Where's Mike?” And we were like, “The gym is still going to be open.” They were freaking out, asking when he was coming back! Sometimes our staff tell us they don't want to take vacation because of the kids. Everyone is so invested.

KM: What do you love about being the Club?

LT: I love our kids. They are so special in every single way. Our inclusion program is huge, and we work with a lot of kiddos who have special needs. We pride ourselves in that there are no limitations here. Our doors are open to everybody. We work with a lot of groups like United Cerebral Palsy who offer additional support for our kiddos. Behind me at my desk, I have some pictures back here of my girls. I have several of my former kiddos who have gotten their PhDs, they’ve joined the Army, they're nurses, they’re teachers, homemakers, entrepreneurs! Even my hair, I get my haircut and styled by one of my former kids! She has her own salon and she cuts my hair. They all come back to the club, and they're so thankful for the time they had here. Throughout my 19 years here, I’ve learned that if you challenge the kids, they will always rise to the challenge. They just need a safe space to do that. And that's why programs like CCL are so important because my fear is how many gaps are we not filling for our kids. So anytime we collaborate with a new partner I'm like, “Okay there's that gap we can close.” The world is such a scary place right now, every time we fill one need, there’s 5 more! Yesterday I met with the Centralia School District and they're going to be providing breakfast and lunch for all of our kids this summer at the Club with their food truck. We are so committed to preventing food insecurity. We cannot allow our kiddos to be insecure about where their next meal is coming from. So we have all these groups that are taking certain issues in the community and finding a solution and they bring it to us so we can fill those gaps. Everyone’s work is just so vital to giving our youth stability and just a safe space.

KM: What are you excited about moving forward? 

LT: The expansion we have had through the Expanded Learning Opportunity Program and being on five school campuses has been amazing. I'm just really excited to see the new challenges, specifically with our little ones. We now serve 4-and  5-year-olds on our school campuses and so I’m excited to see their growth, to see the club through their eyes, because we've always served 6- to 18-year-olds. To see programs through a four-year-old's eyes is so eye-opening and I've learned so much from them. I'm just excited for the Club to continue to grow in that aspect with this new age group. While it has its challenges, the Club has been quick to adapt and our staff are stepping up in new and exciting ways. Also, the Club was recently named the Non-Profit of the Year by the State of California through Senator Josh Newman’s office. It's an incredible honor. Our CEO and I will be at the state capitol on June 5th to receive the award, so that's definitely something to look forward to. 

KM: Do you have a favorite moment from your time at the club in your 19 years there?

LT: Oh my gosh, there's so many. You're going to make me cry. There was this young girl. I had been at the club for about 6 years, and she had been coming to the club since she was six and was now in the 8th grade. She lost her dad suddenly and then not even, six months after that, she lost her grandpa. And her grandpa was her everything. Her world had just come crumbling down. I had never experienced a loss at that time—I had never lost a parent or family member. I remember feeling like I don't have anything that I can tap into to give to her. There's no life experience that I have. And I remember sitting with her and telling her, “You can vent to me about whatever. You’re right to feel your feelings and your grief is so valid. I'm so sorry that I can't help you with this.” And I remember her telling me that it was okay and that it meant so much to her that I was just available to listen to her. So fast forward six months from that. I lost my dad. My dad was really sick and I knew it was coming, but it happened during the holidays and it was just so hard. I told our old CEO at the time, I said, “Look, I just want to come back to work and I just don't want any mention of it. I don't want anyone to be like, ‘I'm so sorry,’ because I'm just going to lose it.” So when I came back everyone was just trying to play it cool. One day I'm in the teen center and she walked in and said, “How are you?” And I looked at her and I started crying. And she said to me, “It’s okay, Luz, I can help you. And this time I can be here for you because I know what you're going through.”  She said, “You give so much of yourself to us and it's okay that you can't this time because I'm here for you now.” And so that's always something that has stuck with me. I’ll carry that forever. That's when something switched in me and I realized, gosh, I need these kids way more than they need me sometimes. There are so many good things and so many memories that I have, summers and field trips and stories. But I think that was such a pivotal moment. It gave me an understanding that the club wasn't just a safe space for the kids, it was also a safe space for me.