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Gloucester YMCA partners with schools in seventh grade initiative

The Gloucester School Board approved a new seventh grade initiative in partnership with the Gloucester YMCA during a meeting Tuesday at the T.C. Walker Education Center.

Local YMCA director Sheila Pillath said the initiative will give seventh graders at the county’s two middle schools “a free membership to the Y for their whole seventh grade year.”

Pillath said the participating students would learn how to use the exercise equipment and be taught the proper respect and responsibility in the shared gym setting. The seventh graders and their parents must also sign off on a code of conduct, and parents will be able to drop their children off at the facility.

Pillath said the seventh grade initiative was piloted at the YMCA’s in West Point and York County last year, and attracted 20 and 60 students, respectively. She said the Gloucester Family YMCA currently has almost 1,300 members.

The school board unanimously backed the initiative and school division superint...

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