MEDIA ALERT
May 7, 2021
Contact: Katie Jacob, Director of Communications
Prime Time Palm Beach County, Inc.
(561) 732-8066
kjacob@primetimepbc.org
Palm Beach County (May 7, 2021) – Prime Time Palm Beach County (Prime Time) will host its virtual Afterschool Symposium 2021 on May 13 and 14, 2021. The Afterschool Symposium is a two-day event offering networking and learning, while celebrating the accomplishments that Palm Beach County afterschool professionals have made to create quality afterschool programs that provide opportunity, education, positive relationships and fun to the children and youth who attend. This year’s theme, Unmasking Your Potential – Building Systems and Programs Where All Youth Can Thrive, sends an important message that we must tap into the reserves of perseverance and creativity stored within us all as we navigate our new normal and the subsequent migration to a virtual landscape.
The symposium will open with a welcome from Rick Christie, Executive Editor of the Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach State College (PBSC) President Ava L. Parker will kick off the Symposium, providing the initial spark to ignite the Out-of-School Time (OST) Professional Development Honorees Recognition on May 13, 20121, where Prime Time will acknowledge important educational milestones of OST professionals and achievements by afterschool programs. With President Parker’s leadership and PBSC’s dynamic educational offerings, Prime Time was fortunate to scholarship more than 600 afterschool practitioners in 2019-2020, helping them to achieve their goals and acquire the tools necessary to provide superior quality service to local children and youth. Following, attendees will join virtual professional development workshops around topics that include equity, social and emotional learning, inclusivity and more.
On May 14, 2021, attendees will join the Advancing Afterschool Awards, a peer-nominated awards celebration that will recognize outstanding contributions to the field. Starting at 11:30 a.m., Thaddeus M. Bullard, an accomplished athlete, philanthropist and entertainer as WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil who has a heart for youth and the community, will join attendees as Prime Time’s keynote speaker. Bullard went from being a resident of the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches as a troubled, underperforming young man to being a mentor, role model and honorary Deputy for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Bullard’s passion and commitment to not only succeed personally but also to help others succeed is derived from an early seed planted at the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches, where many invested in him when, in his words, “they had nothing to gain in return.”
What: Afterschool Symposium 2021
When: Thursday, May 13, 2021, from 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Friday, May 14, 2021, from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Where: Whova.com, virtual event app
Who: Rick Christie, Executive Editor, Palm Beach Post
Ava L. Parker, President, Palm Beach State College
Thaddeus M. Bullard, an accomplished athlete, philanthropist and entertainer as WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil
Sponsors: Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County, NEXTera Energy and Seacoast Bank
Prime Time Palm Beach County
Prime Time Palm Beach County is a nonprofit organization that provides resources and supports for out-of-school time professionals to develop programs that inspire children to be their best and allow them to thrive socially and academically. Prime Time’s integrated model of services is one of the strongest, most comprehensive and well-respected systems for measuring and improving out-of-school time program quality in the nation.
Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County
Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County, a special district created by Palm Beach County voters, provides leadership, funding and research on behalf of the county’s children so they grow up healthy, safe and strong.