Members of The Flying Monkeys—a team of Girls Scouts from Ames, IA—presented their patent-pending prosthetic to President Obama at the White House Science Fair on Feb. 7, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)

On Tuesday, President Obama held the second  White House Science Fair  as part of his commitment to encourage youth to explore and excel in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.  The event convened winners of several STEM competitions from across the United States to the halls of the White House to showcase their projects.

More than 30 team projects representing more than 100 students were on display including a project by The Flying Monkeys, a team of Girl Scouts from Ames, Iowa.  The Flying Monkeys presented their patent-pending prosthetic that enables individuals to grip and hold items.  The team was inspired to design the prosthetic after learning about a young girl in Georgia who was born without fingers on her right hand.  The team did their research by visiting a prosthetics manufacturer and an occupational therapist prior to designing and building their prototype.  They entered their idea into FIRST Lego League’s Global Innovators Competition in which they competed against 179 teams from 16 countries to win $20,000 to develop their idea.

The White House provided a live webcast of the science fair  as the president walked through the displays and listened to the students explain their work.  Many of the projects were inspired by a desire to improve lives and make an impact on their community. Click here for videos and photos from the event.

Directly following the science fair, the president addressed a crowd of students, educators and STEM community leaders to congratulate the students and announce new initiatives to encourage students in STEM and support STEM educators.  Obama began his remarks by reiterating his position that "if we are recognizing athletic achievement, we should also recognize academic achievement and science achievement."

The push to highlight and reward achievement in STEM fields sends a strong signal to youth that the STEM subjects are an important and a worthwhile endeavor.  We need more champions and leaders in our communities, states and on the national level to make STEM education a priority.  If this “all hands-on deck” approach to which the president often refers is going to succeed, it will be because of the countless staff and volunteers at afterschool programs who support and nurture the creative minds like those of The Flying Monkeys! 

Schools Offer Disaster Program (Bucyrus Telegraph Forum, Ohio)
The Bucyrus City Schools’ 21st Century Afterschool Program is presenting a free program on disaster preparedness for students and their families, the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum reports. The informational session will address how to build a disaster preparedness kit, tips for kids home alone, meeting areas, and more.

Leftovers from Tampa International Airport Food Vendors Serve New Purposes (Tampa Bay Times, Florida)
Some afterschool students in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties go home with full bellies thanks to a recycling program at Tampa International Airport. HMS Host food worker Tim Juul started the program to donate the wasted food left over at airport restaurants and “grab and go” food stations. Workers used to toss the foods after their 24-hour shelf life expired, even though the foods were still good for a week. Since the recycling was implemented in September 2010, HMS Host has recovered the equivalent of 167,000 meals, recycled tons of plastics and glass, saved landfill space and spurred similar programs at more than a dozen other airports, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Hands-On Project (The Independent, Kentucky)
Ashland third graders in the Cool Camp afterschool program decorated Valentine’s for the Hands That Touch a Heart program. The afterschool students and other youth in the community created handmade cards at the Boyd County Public Library that will be delivered to U.S. soldiers serving abroad and to local seniors in nursing homes.

Mills-Parole Students Able to Continue Dancing Up a Storm (The Capital, Maryland)
A social media blitz allowed the D.A.R.E. Dance at Mills-Parole program in Annapolis to continue after the popular afterschool program lost its funding. Program organizers posted an appeal for help on Facebook with a video, and the group raised $790 in three days, more than enough to allow them to finish out the current 14-week session that ends in March. Now 27 fifth-graders will be able to continue to learn creative hip-hop.
 

Maryville Students Get a Glimpse of Careers at 'Citizen School' (The Courier-Journal, Kentucky)
Maryville Elementary School counselor Kaet Barron launched a free weekly afterschool program last month to give students a chance to gain exposure to a variety of careers. This week’s guest was Hillview Police Chief Glenn Caple. “At the elementary level, the discussion about jobs isn’t always introduced as often as it should,” Barron told the Courier-Journal. “The goal is to start connecting that, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up’ question to what they’re learning now.”

Houston Library Looks to Big Businesses for Help (Houston Chronicle, Texas)
The Houston Public Library Foundation accepted a $100,000 check from Comerica Bank to support the library’s afterschool program and technology needs. In the past two years the library’s annual budget has shrunk from $37- to $32 million, so library officials are challenging the Houston business community to step up and support community programs.

Fine Tuning: Memphis’ Cypress Middle School Guitar Club Teaches Music, Accountability (The Commercial Appeal, Tennessee)
A 12-member guitar club, led by Rhodes College student volunteers through the Mike Curb Institute for Music, at Cypress Middle School teaches students accountability and music and encourages students to improve their behavior during the school day. The afterschool program teaches guitar to economically disadvantaged students at their neighborhood school. “A 2009 study published in the journal Psychology of Music found that elementary-school children exposed to a multi-year program of music tuition displayed superior cognitive performance in certain reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers,” the Commercial Appeal reports.

N.H. Among Lowest Drop Outs in the U.S. (Foster’s Daily Democrat, New Hampshire)
New Hampshire boasts one of the lowest dropout rates in the nation and one principal credits afterschool programs as one of the solutions to keeping at-risk youth engaged in the afternoons. Principal Todd Allen told Foster’s Daily Democrat that: academic supports, like the Homework Den afterschool program and a Learning Lab, which is available to students throughout the school day where students can find both short and long term assistance with subjects as needed; student tutors; and a comprehensive guidance program, where counselors work with any at-risk students and connect them to credit recovery programs, alternative credit options like internships and independent study, as well as traditional counseling services, are a big part of success.
 

The first Digital Learning Day is this Wednesday, Feb. 1, and marks an important moment to reflect on the effect of digital technology across all aspects of education.  In addition to transforming how students learn during the school day, digital technology has major implications beyond the school day, in afterschool and summer learning programs.  These programs play a major role in helping schools to address issues of equitable access, supporting student learning and building digital literacy.

Although Internet-enabled mobile devices have helped to increase the number of youth with Internet access, the digital divide between socioeconomic groups is still very much a real issue.  According to a 2010 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 45 percent of households earning less than $30,000 per year had broadband access in the home.  As technology becomes more integrated into the school day, the effects of this inequity in access may become even more pronounced between students who can extend their learning at home and those who cannot. 

Afterschool and summer programs broaden access to digital technology beyond the school day, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged youth.  Yet, they provide much more than a few additional hours with a laptop.  They can use digital technology to deepen a child's understanding of academic subjects, complementing the school day with an even richer exploration of school lessons, and help students build critical digital literacy skills.  In order to be successful in the 21st century, students need much more than a basic understanding of digital technology.  Digital literacy emphasizes a student's ability to evaluate, manipulate and actively contribute to the pool of existing digital media and content.

This year’s Lights On Afterschool poster contest is now officially underway!  Afterschool program participants are encouraged to submit artwork that celebrates afterschool programs and conveys the importance of keeping the lights on afterschool.   The winning poster design will be printed on 70,000 posters sent to Lights On Afterschool celebrations across the country, not to mention that the winning artist will be featured on our website, blog and Afterschool Storybook. 

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2012.  Click here for contest details and submission guidelines.  Keep in mind that the winning artwork will be scanned become a digital image, so avoid using textures or raised materials.  We love bright colors that jump off the poster, so materials that won’t smear or rub off—like markers, paint and pens—often work better than crayons, watercolors or chalk (or why not try your hand at some digital art?).

We’re already excited about the 13^th annual Lights On Afterschool on Oct. 18, 2012, and can’t wait to see what our afterschool artists come up with to help us celebrate!

Zoo Animals Visit School (News Herald, Ohio)
Afterschool youth at Champions for Children in Port Clinton had some creepy crawly visitors on Monday – a snake, cockroach and a lizard from the Toledo Zoo. The afterschool program is participating in several enrichment programs to make learning more interesting for youth. The Zoo’s Education Manager Josh Minor told the students he would bring a tree frog, lizard, alligator, Guinea pig or a tarantula the next time he visits the program.

Miracle After-School Program Taps Wine Festival to Help Immokalee Students Achieve (Naples Daily News, Florida)
Afterschool students in Immokalee have a wine festival to thank for their program’s funding.  “Without the wine festival we would not be able to get the 21st Century grant that pays for the majority of the program,” Pat Riley, executive director of the Alliance of Educational Leaders, which works to implement the Miracle program in Immokalee, told the Naples Daily News. The 21st Century Community Learning Center has grants for about 80% of its funding, and the Wine Festival’s sponsor – The Naples Children and Education Foundation – supports the rest of the local funding. This will be the fourth year that the Wine Festival donates to the Miracle program at Immokalee’s schools.

$10 Million Tennis Facility to Open in Marshall Heights in September (Washington Post, District of Columbia)
Construction will break ground next week on a new seven-acre tennis facility in Marshall Heights, after a seven-year fundraising campaign by the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation to bring its youth development programs to Southeast D.C. The facility will house the Center for Excellence, an afterschool program for at-risk youth which provides about 60 K-12 students from Northeast and Southeast each year with academic support and tennis training aimed at getting them into college.

SIUE’s STEM Program Brings Academic Subjects Together (The Telegraph, Illinois)
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Center for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Research, Education and Outreach has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Bethalto to provide hands-on learning experiences for afterschool students in Alton. Two to three times per month the university’s Minds on Science Activities in the Community Program brings all the materials and supplies to engage afterschool youth in STEM activities, like building a small-scale catapult prototype, investigating the mysteries of owl pellets or snowflake science.