{"id":22883,"date":"2017-10-20T07:59:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T11:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=22883"},"modified":"2017-10-20T08:00:01","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T12:00:01","slug":"ymca-offers-free-membership-to-7th-graders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=22883","title":{"rendered":"YMCA offers free membership to 7th graders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/YMCA-logo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5494\" src=\"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/YMCA-logo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"229\" \/><\/a>Chester County seventh graders, you\u2019re going to want to get to the YMCA right now.<\/p>\n<p>The YMCA of Greater Brandywine is proud to continue its 7<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Grade Initiative, which offers any seventh grader in Chester County a free one-year youth membership. Kids simply need to bring a school ID, roster or report card, along with a parent or guardian, to their local branch to register. After registering, their membership includes use of the YMCA\u2019s facilities. Seventh-graders can swim, play in our gyms, work out in our wellness centers under staff supervision and participate in programs, classes and sports. Last year, more than 1,100 seventh-graders took advantage of this free membership.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think it\u2019s crucial to set the foundation for a healthy lifestyle at a young age,\u201d YMCA of Greater Brandywine President &amp; CEO Denise Day said. \u201cOur 7<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Grade Initiative helps kids fall in love with an active way of life. Kids at this age are discovering who they are, and we want to ensure that they\u2019re set up for future success through that active lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As kids face adolescence\u2019s challenges, they\u2019re more likely to begin distancing themselves from formal organizations, friends and family and to experiment with unhealthy behaviors. The 7<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Grade Initiative offers an alternative, where they can make new\u00a0friends while staying active and also avoid exposure to those counter-productive behaviors.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the YMCA began its \u201cSaturday Night Lights\u201d program earlier this month. The program gives kids in grades 4-12 a personal hangout spot on Saturday nights, where they\u2019re paired off into age-appropriate groups under the supervision of the YMCA\u2019s top-notch staff. Kids get to use the Y\u2019s facilities to play basketball, swim, play games or just hang out, drawing them away from unhealthy behaviors. The cost is just $3 for YMCA youth members (this includes those with the free seventh-grade membership). There is no cost for YMCA family members to attend and it\u2019s just $6 for non-members.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the YMCA of Greater Brandywine\u2019s 7<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0Grade Initiative and Saturday Night Lights program, please visit any of our branches, which include the Brandywine YMCA, Kennett Area YMCA, Jennersville YMCA, Lionville Community YMCA, Upper Main Line YMCA, West Chester Area YMCA and the Oscar Lasko YMCA and Youth Program Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chester County seventh graders, you\u2019re going to want to get to the YMCA right now. The YMCA of Greater Brandywine is proud to continue its 7th\u00a0Grade Initiative, which offers any seventh grader in Chester County a free one-year youth membership. Kids simply need to bring a school ID, roster or report card, along with a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7963,1516,4735],"class_list":["post-22883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-7th-graders","tag-free","tag-ymca-of-brandywine-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22884,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22883\/revisions\/22884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}