Weekly Media Roundup - December 14, 2011

Program Shines Light on Value of Inventors (Toledo Blade, Ohio)

Afterschool students in the Woodberry Park Inventors and Art afterschool program in Toledo are learning about inventors and black history. The program’s developer told the Toledo Blade that the dearth of information about inventors in schools goes beyond race. “Students everywhere aren’t learning about inventors, don’t know how technology is developed, and don’t understand how innovations build on each other.” This week students discussed the origin of the Super Soaker and the importance of patents.

Students Show Artistic Side at Salvation Army (Reading Eagle, Pennsylvania)
Afterschool students from the Salvation Army afterschool program in Reading displayed sculptures, paintings, poetry, short stories, music, dance performances and more at an art show on Dec. 9. Nearly 100 parents, students and teachers attended the “Nobody Like You” themed Manana Art Show.

Junior High Students Put Their Robotics Skills to the Test (The Graham Leader, Texas)
For the first time, six afterschool students from Graham Junior High School (GJHS) were invited to participate in a robotics competition alongside more than 50 area gifted and talented students. A grant funded the robotics sets for the afterschool program and made it possible for the students to participate. GJHS afterschool students won the competition as the overall high point winner and placed third in the “surprise challenge” where the students’ robots had to care for a pet dog using sensors to clean up, walk and feed the dog.

Publishing Materials Would Help Encourage Young Writers (Sacramento Bee, California)
Third graders to high school students in Sacramento are spending their afternoons in a creative writing club. The students begin each session with an inspiration: an idea, a thought, an image, even a smell that launches the young minds into examining their life and memories and then they begin writing. The afterschool program leaders are raising funds to publish the students’ works. Program Executive Director Katie McCleary told the Sacramento Bee that the students won’t necessarily all want to be writers, but they will learn to value the written word and learn to express themselves, traits that can have a powerful effect on other realms of life.