YOKE is thrilled to announce that after 2 years, we will be restarting YOKE at Gibbs Middle School this 2025-2026 school year!
Gibbs Middle School, located in North Knoxville, is currently home to 614 students in grades 6th-8th. Gibbs’ first YOKE club opened the 2018-2019 school year. In the 2022-2023 school year, Gibbs’ and Halls’ YOKE clubs were combined due to a lack of leaders. There has not been a YOKE club at Gibbs since the spring of 2023.
With the support of churches in the area, Gibbs is a great community and a school that is well-loved and supported. It has a supportive team of administrators who are excited for YOKE to restart in their school and impact their students! Due to student involvement in activities and athletics, many of our Gibbs YOKE kids tend to be those with no church home or religious background. We love being able to provide a safe space for these students who often fall through the cracks!
Our Gibbs team is going to be headed up by Andy Minton, a returning YOKE Team Lead who has been involved with YOKE in some capacity since he himself was a 6th grade YOKE kid! He is passionate about restarting the Gibbs club, especially for his middle-school daughter. He is partnering with Sarah Harren, his co-team leader, who is excited to begin her YOKE journey! They will be working with avid high school leaders Hadley Henry and Aiden Woolsey, who both worked at Camp Ba-Yo-Ca over the summer and are excited to continue leading middle school students! Our YOKE team is ready to continue to develop and rekindle partnerships in the Gibbs community to have another thriving YOKE club once again!
The Gibbs YOKE club will meet Tuesdays from 7-8 pm in the cafeteria. We are still looking for members to join this team! If you are interested in serving on the Gibbs team or learning about ways to get involved, please contact Alanah Beard at 865-522-6907 or alanah@yokeyouth.com.