Bedecked in bell-bottoms, platform shoes and miniskirts, guests boogied down during the recent Saturday Night Fever Dance Party to benefit the Gifford Youth Achievement Center, where the Oak Harbor Clubhouse had morphed into a ’70s-era disco, with music, spinning disco balls and flashing lights. The crowd was so hyped, many hit the dance floor before the party even started.
In a throwback to yesteryear, tables had been adorned with 45s, disco balls and lighted cups, with organizers hoping attendees would catch a ‘Saturday Night Fever’ for the goal of the nonprofit to enhance the lives of local children and families through educational, cultural and social opportunities.
A troupe of GYAC student performers wowed the crowd with their own presentation before turning the stage over to professional dancers who staged a disco variety show.
“It’s a joy to know that we have individuals that care so much and realize that we need you,” said Deborah Taylor-Long, GYAC board chair, in her welcome address. “It takes a community to raise children and to afford them opportunities to be great. We thank you for being those partners and those contributors that have a heart and want to contribute to those who need you most.”
Freddie Woolfork, GYAC director of public relations and facilities operations, took guests back to the 1960s, before desegregation, when he said Gifford High School, “a proud, dignified institution for learning,” provided a quality education for Black students. Prior to desegregation in 1969, the GHS graduation rate was 92 percent.
Fast forwarding to 1996, he said a group of concerned community leaders, led by Dr. A. Ronald Hudson, Dan K. Richardson and Dr. William Nigh, alerted local civic leaders to the fact that the graduation rate for Black students attending county high schools had fallen to just 23 percent.
“We weren’t going to sit around and just allow that to happen. These individuals put together a task force that put together a strategy that we must do something,” said Woolfork.
Two years later, through the efforts of donors, staff and the board of directors, the Gifford Youth Achievement (nee Activity) Center opened its doors.
“That old Gifford spirit has risen up again,” said Woolfork. The district’s 2020-21 Black graduation rate was 93.3 percent.
“GYAC is a wonderful place to be. The teachers care about the students and their education. It is a lot of work, but it is worth it,” said Tyjah Warner, an eighth-grade student at Oslo Middle School who has attended GYAC for three years, commenting on the afterschool program.
“Tyjah is one of the many bright stars shining at GYAC. It’s students like Tyjah that make the work I do, the work we do at GYAC, so important. I say we because you are part of the village that is helping nurture, support and inspire aspirational dreams and hopes in the lives of these students,” said Angelia Perry, GYAC executive director, crediting the assemblage with helping the children to be their best selves.
“GYAC students are indoctrinated with the belief that they are capable of success, no exceptions. We challenge them, encourage them, correct them, discipline them, but most importantly, we love them. We want their futures to be as bright as the sun, and your continued support is absolutely making a difference.”
Later, guests donned headphones for the “silent disco,” selecting their favorite tunes to dance the night away to the beat of songs unheard by the rest of the crowd. It may have looked a little odd, but unlike the loud discos of the past, the headphones made it eminently more enjoyable for those diners wanting to sit and chat without having to shout over the music.
GYAC provides afterschool and summertime educational, social, cultural, recreational and developmental programs for children in grades K-12, often alongside local collaborative partners, and also has a Beyond Special K program for senior citizens.
For more information, visit GYAC.net.
Photos by Kaila Jones
