Weekly Media Roundup  March 25, 2015

Linton 6th-Graders Work to Help Save Monarch Butterflies (Linton Herald-Times, Indiana)

Two Linton-Stockton Junior High School students are working to create a habitat for monarch butterflies in Indiana. Suzie Rock and Emma Brinson, both 12, formed the afterschool Miner Monarch Club in order to educate fellow students and the community about the dwindling population of monarch butterflies that spend their summers in Indiana. The girls received a $1,000 grant from the Greene County Community Foundation to run the program, which usually has 15 to 20 students at its Thursday meetings. The club recently ran butterfly-related activities and games for Lincoln-Stockton first-graders to educate them about the monarchs. They are also planning to plant butterfly gardens at their school and other locations. “They’re really good planners and doers,” sixth-grade science teacher and club sponsor Cara Graves told the Linton Herald-Times. “They are very passionate about it.”

Mountain Bay Gets a Day with a Packer (Wausau Daily Herald, Wisconsin)

The Mountain Bay Elementary School afterschool flag football club earned a visit from Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jared Abbrederis last week. The school is part of the Fuel Up to Play 60 program, which is sponsored by the National Football League and the National Dairy Association and aims to get students active at least 60 minutes a day. In addition to flag football, Mountain Bay also has a walking club and a healthy eating program. The students tracked their healthy initiatives throughout the year and earned a visit from Abbrederis, according to the Wausau Daily Herald. “Growing up, I remember my mom used to always send me and my two sisters outside – whether it was snowing out, or 20 below or 100 degrees,” Abbrederis told the students. “We had to go out, get our energy out and have fun. That’s important for you guys, too.”

Money Flows to Help Kids in Community (Tulare Advance-Register, California)

Thanks to $2.1 million in grant funding from the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the new Closing the Circle to Reduce Crime and Delinquency program will provide a variety of programs and services to youth to teach them leadership and keep them off the streets.  “We ask ourselves how we can connect students to law in a positive way,” Tulare County Office of Education extended learning director Adam Valencia told the Tulare Advance-Register. “It’s another way to make connections so students can feel like they’re part of something bigger.” By the end of the three year project organizers expect to add law enforcement officers throughout the county and afterschool programs in rural communities.

Hoosiers Give Assist to After-School Program (Omaha World-Herald, Nebraska)

Before their NCAA tournament game last week, the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team visited the Abide Network afterschool program in Omaha to chat with the students about their dreams and goals. About 20 children from kindergarten through sixth grade attend the afterschool program, where they have a meal and study with volunteer tutors. This time, they paired up with the basketball players to talk about what they want to do with their lives. Hoosiers coach Tom Crean said he hoped his players would encourage and inspire the children, who come from some of Omaha’s most dangerous neighborhoods. “These kids are not forgotten,” Crean told the World-Herald. “These kids have a future.”