Helping future generations

think critically,

communicate effectively,

plan flexibly, and

engage collaboratively

...all while playing board games!

$120/Mondays or Thursdays

$220/Monday and Thursday Bundle

Venmo: @nc_gamechangers

Cash and checks made out to

"NC Gamechangers" also accepted

Email [email protected] to learn about scholarship opportunities for elementary school GAMErs.

$25/session

$135/6 pack

$240/12 pack

Venmo: @nc_gamechangers

Cash and checks made out to

"NC Gamechangers" also accepted

Email [email protected] to learn about scholarship opportunities for middle school GAMErs.

Helping future generations think critically, communicate effectively, plan flexibly, and engage collaboratively...all while playing board games!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MOBILE SITE IN DEVELOPMENT...PLEASE EXCUSE ANY MISHAPS.

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WHAT IS GAMECHANGERS?

Gamechangers is an extracurricular program that provides a unique learning opportunity for participants of all ages by engaging in the multifaceted world of board gaming. Participants play games and track their gaming statistics on the Pin Prodigy track, hone in on fine motor, social emotional, and academic skills on the Meeple Master track, and take pride and ownership of Gamechangers as they work their way from GAMEr (participant) to Board Game Buff, Piecekeeper, and even Gamechangers Assistant on the GAMErs Ascent track.

GAMErs have the opportunity to learn and play a variety of board and card games that also allow them to practice mental math, analyze risk against probability, and develop spacial reasoning. Additionally, they strengthen their reading comprehension skills as they interact with rulebooks and action cards. Persuasive speaking skills are also in full forces as GAMErs try to prove their innocence just before the voting phase of social deduction games and work together to decide the best course of action to win cooperative games!

WHAT'S OUR STORY?

Jasmine Nieto is the founder and Head Gamemaster of Gamechangers. She is an educator within Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools with eleven years of experience teaching fourth and fifth grade. Mrs. Nieto is extremely passionate about making connections with students and helping them develop transferrable life skills.

Jasmine loved playing board games as a child and her passion for the board gaming has only grown as an adult. The more she played with her peers and family—particularly after the months of social isolation resulting from the COVID19 pandemic—the more she came to realize the immense social, emotional, and academic benefits board games can offer!

Gamechangers began as an afterschool enrichment program for Mrs. Nieto's fifth graders in October of the 2022-23 school year. After a wildly successful fall session, she hosted winter and spring sessions with fourth and fifth graders. Students and families began inquiring about summer opportunities, so she piloted multiple sessions of a week-long mini camp for upper elementary and middle schoolers in 2023. The buzz about Gamechangers continued to spread, allowing for fall, winter, and spring sessions to fill up during the 2023-24 school year and double the number of summer camp sessions to fill up with children Mrs. Nieto hadn't even taught (...or even met before camp)! Before long, families began inquiring about Gamechangers birthday parties, too...so the Mobile Party Package was born!

WHAT'S OUR MISSION?

Gamechangers aims to accomplish so much more than simply exposing participants to different board and card games and turning them into skilled gamers. The ultimate focus of the program is to foster academic growth, promote social emotional learning, and strengthen the targeted life and learning skills outlined under the broad umbrella of 21st century skills.

WHAT'S THE PLAN

FOR THE FUTURE?

At the present time there are two major goals for Gamechangers: the Game With Me neighborhood experience and eventually The Gamechangers Lounge.

Game With Me

I would love to have a mobile gaming experience in which I can visit local neighborhoods and host board game afternoons with children living in lower income communities to provide exposure to this unique learning experience. The program has been so wildly successful within Southern Village that I am very much hoping to provide the same opportunities for academic, social, and emotional growth to populations of children beyond this tight knit community. Game With Me would be modeled off of CHCCS' Read to Me initiative, where teachers visit lower income neighborhoods, read books with students, and allow them to keep copies for themselves and family members.

The Game With Me neighborhood experience would occur biweekly to monthly in different neighborhoods our school community serves. I would advertise details of each experience on social media and post flyers in communities to ensure word gets out. Tables, chairs, games for students to play, and merchandise for students to keep would be provided at the Game With Me experience. Anyone who stays for the one to two hour experience, will have the opportunity to put their name into three raffles to win either 1) a full scholarship to an afterschool Gamechangers cycle of their choice, 2) a full scholarship for a Gamechangers summer mini camp session of their choice, 3) a free Gamechangers mobile party package.

At this time, approximately 10% of GAMErs have attended afterschool and/or summer sessions on either full or partial scholarships. It is my goal to raise that percentage to at least 20% by next summer session. Piloting this Game With Me experience provide full scholarships to perspective GAMErs, but also simply expose students in our community to the Gamechangers approach to learning. With this exposure comes peaked interest and inquiries related to joining in on Gamechangers, which can allow us to sponsor more students with full and partial scholarships!

The Gamechangers Lounge

Opening The Gamechangers Lounge somewhere in the community has become my newest passion project. I envision a space where elementary, middle, and maybe even high schoolers come together to learn, practice, and strengthen 21st century skills that will grow them academically, socially, and emotionally.

Board game cafes and breweries are on the rise in the gaming community, but The Gamechangers Lounge will be unique in that it's a place geared toward a younger generation, with a focus on holistic growth. I envision freeplay opportunities with past and present GAMErs manning the floor as Board Game Buffs for game suggestions and Piecekeepers who literally keep up with rogue board game pieces and monitor gameplay to ensure members and their guests are keeping our core values at the forefront of gamplay. Current GAMErs are already on the unofficial "production team" helping to design pins and criteria for possible tracks, expand and create new merchandise to sell, and brainstorm ideas to provide members and visitors with all levels of experience to have positive and engaging gameplay. with all games they choose to explore!

TESTIMONIALS

ELEMENTARY GAMECHANGERS:

AFTERSCHOOL

Gamechangers Fall Edition for fourth and fifth graders is fully booked. Our next (mini) session for fourth and fifth graders will take place in the month of December.

MIDDLE SCHOOL GAMECHANGERS:

FALL FRIDAYS

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TESTIMONIALS

""My daughter loves participating in Gamechangers, she never wants it to end! She loves the extra time spent with her friends in a structured but fun environment, and getting to learn to play new games and learn new strategies... Thanks to this, we have more frequent "old school" family game nights (at her request)! I think the Gamechangers program is a wonderful way to get kids socializing more directly with each other, introduces them to games that they might not have ever experienced before--and that exposure helps them to think and learn in different ways...I highly recommend it!"

- Rachel S.

"My son looks so forward to attending Gamechangers every week.  He loves the time spent with friends and the excitement of trying out new and favorite games with a group he doesn't ordinarily get to play with in that way! I love the communication, cooperation and problem solving that playing "old school" games brings about.  We are huge fans of Ms. Johnson and the amazing energy and guidance she shares with these kids!"                             

- Corie G.

"My daughter loves Gamechangers! She comes home talking about all of the new games she has learned and she also talks about time spent with kids that she isn't in class with or interacts with on a daily basis, which is a great way to build additional social circles... Another piece that she sees is Ms. Johnson sharing one of her passions outside of the typical classroom setting, which is so important.                                

- Jessica S.

"Our 5th grader

is excited about Gamechangers

at school and looks forward to her extra time with classmates. "You get to learn new games that you can play with family, at home. It's a chance to get to know classmates better." We see our daughter benefitting from a boredom buster that is not electronic and we are often asked to play the board games that we have kept at home."

- Shadi C.