Raising Butterflies

When my own kids were little, we raised butterflies. Raising butterflies was fun for my kids and I. You can get a kit from the craft store that will give you a place to purchase the eggs. You place the eggs onto leaves and it gives other instructions on how to care for your butterflies within the care guide. These butterflies needed oranges when they were in the caterpillar state. ... Continue Reading »

Charley West BBQ Fest

On Saturday, May 20, 2023 from 2:00 PM – 8:00 PM at Haddad Riverfront Park in Downtown Charleston!There will be live music on the levee stage throughout the day from Canvases, J. Hatfield, and Emmalea Deel and the Hot Mess.Commercial BBQ vendors will have various BBQ available for purchase on site.Competition and Backyard teams will have BBQ available for sampling in exchange for tasting tickets, which can be purchased on site from 2... Continue Reading »

History of the Bob Burdette Center

The Bob Burdette Center, Inc. (BBC, or the Center) is an after-school program that serves West Side children in grades K-5. It presently operates at four sites – Edgewood Elementary, Emmanuel Baptist Church, Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary, and North Charleston Community Center.The program began in 1996 as the James Paige Learning Center and operated successfully under that name for two years. Much of the impetus for the program’s ... Continue Reading »

A Day In the Life of an Afterschool Program – NCCC Part 1

My name is Shirley Petretic. I’m a site coordinator at North Charleston Community Center for the Bob Burdette Center. I arrive at work by 11:30am. I work on setting up my attendance list, food lists (everything that will be served to kids that day), and get my lesson plans set up.By 1:00pm my staff walks in and tables and chairs get set up.At 1:30pm I pick up ... Continue Reading »

In the News: Bob Burdette & the Charleston Fire Department

When you are a student at the Bob Burdette Center, you have some really cool opportunities. My own child was a BBC kid and he got to go to Cleveland, OH to see the Cavs play.It’s especially terrific when we can pair up learning and play to make learning fun!This past summer, 2022, the kids at North Charleston Community Center had the opportunity to go to the Charleston ... Continue Reading »

Success stories from our afterschool

Names of children have been changed to protect their identity and comply with COPPA.I have a child in the Bob Burdette afterschool program named Andrea. Andrea was very shy and quiet. It was difficult encouraging her to stand up for herself.This year, she started to open up and has become more vocal. During homework time, I noticed something. She was writing her numbers backward. In fourth grade, that ... Continue Reading »