Why the Gr8 Switch?

Well-known American inventor and businessman Charles Kettering wasn’t far off when he said, “People are very open-minded about new things, as long as they are exactly like the old ones.”  Change is a difficult thing for many of us simply because we’re comfortable with things as they are.  Recognizing this truth – and taking a deep breath – we’re planning a pretty big change here at the 3 Mile Project.

Beginning with the weekend of February 13 – 15, we’ll be switching the nights that we host 5^th and 6^th graders and high school students.  Our new schedule will be:

* Thursday evenings, 6 pm – 9 pm:  high school students

* Friday evenings, 7 pm – 10 pm:  7^th and 8^th grade students

* Saturday evenings, 6 pm – 9 pm:  5^th and 6^th grade students

The reason for this change is simple.  It’s our goal to reach as many young people as possible in our community – and we believe that this switch will allow us to do so.  Specifically, we believe that more 5^th and 6^th grade students will visit us on Saturday evenings because it’s not a school night, and we believe that more high school students will visit us on Thursday evenings because there are not as many conflicting social opportunities available to them on that night of the week.

We’re not taking this change lightly.  It won’t be easy for us, either.  We have several thousand students to inform about their new night.  We suspect that we’ll be dealing with a fair amount of confusion.  And worst of all, there might be a handful of students who currently visit us that won’t be able to attend on their new night.  But having spent a fair amount of time analyzing this switch, we’re convinced it’s the right thing to do.

President Woodrow Wilson once said, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.”  Fortunately, we’re not trying to do something as significant as change the formula for Coca-Cola or revamp the national health care system.  We’ve learned some things over the three short years we’ve been in existence, and student attendance trends is one of them.  Please bear with us as we continue to do everything in our power to make this safe, loving, and exciting community available to as many young people as possible.

– Stan, Executive Director