When Lucas and Pablo joined the Youth Development Program as Mates (elementary school-aged campers) in the fall of 2022, one of the first things that set them apart from other campers was their quietness. There are always plenty of people and activities to engage in, but the brothers were usually found on the sidelines and seemed not to connect with their peers.
But by the time Pablo returned to school in September 2023, the adults around him were starting to notice a change. He came alive during a soccer game at the Beach House that fall. He began to engage more with his Family Engagement Coordinator, Eliza Lopez De La Cruz, as she planned family outings to the local public library and a baseball game in Salisbury, Maryland. He seemed to navigate the world with more confidence, and his teachers noticed that he was starting to volunteer more in the classroom, too.
Things went harder for Lucas at first. When Pablo aged up into the Navigators (middle school-aged campers), Lucas was suddenly left without his only solid connection. His withdrawal from the group seemed to worsen, and there were weekend camps when he decided not to come at all. If someone were watching from the outside for that twelve-month period, they might conclude that the Youth Development Program wasn’t “working” for Lucas.
But one of the greatest strengths of Children’s Beach House is that we commit to children and families for the long haul. We know that some kids take longer than others to feel safe enough to let the world see them. The consistency of CBH’s presence in the family’s life began to have an effect on Lucas, and by the summer of 2024, the smile on his face made him hard to recognize as the painfully shy child we met two years earlier. “Lucas and Pablo look happier,” their mother reports. “Since they started the Youth Development Program, they are more open to new experiences and other children.
Lucas has been at every weekend camp this academic year, and his teachers report that his grades have gone up, too. “Pablo and Lucas are two students who have truly benefited from the CBH Youth Program,” says one of their teachers. “Since becoming enrolled, they have shown more self-confidence in trying to accomplish tasks independently. They also have learned how to better self-advocate and express their needs more clearly to others.”
These brothers have come so far in two years, and they have many more years left at the Beach House. It’s gratifying to see their growth, and we know there are so many good things to come for both of them.