2019 March

BOSTON, MA — Dorchester native, Shannon Zarnoch was just six years old when she first started coming to Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester. Her favorite programs were art and athletics, participating in activities such as floor hockey and travel basketball.

Growing up at the Club, Shannon always knew she wanted to work with kids. She looked up to the staff that she had as a member; they left a major impact on her ambitions to one day work at the Club.

Shannon started to work at the age of fifteen through the Boston Youth Fund, an organization that focuses on youth employment in the city of Boston. She is currently twenty-two years old and was recently promoted to be the Social Recreation Coordinator, where she oversees the staff and children in the gamesroom. Shannon also teaches hip-hop dance to the members of the Club and works as a teaching assistant in our Toddler 1 classroom. Her choreography was displayed at the Arts Bash, an event that showcases our members’ artistic abilities. It will also be shown again at this year’s New England Women’s Leadership Awards on May 9^th.

Her favorite part of working at the Club is the relationships that she has made with the members and other staff. She has loved to see each member grow up through the years since she has started. Shannon states, “working at the Club means a lot to me because when I was a member, some of the most memorable people in my life were the staff that I had at the Club. I hope that I can one day make as much of an impact on the members that I have as the staff did on me growing up.”