Weekly Media Roundup: November 11, 2015

Beardsley Elementary Launches New Mentoring Program for English Learners (Elkhart Truth, Indiana)

Thirty English-learning students from Beardsley Elementary are closer to meeting their goals to be proficient in reading, writing and comprehension thanks to the volunteers from First Presbyterian Church. The church’s afterschool program, 30-30-30, pairs students with their own tutor who they meet with for 30 minutes every week. Volunteers help students through their lessons, from reading books to understanding grammar concepts, while also acting as general mentors. “The academic piece is the focus, but the relationship is so beneficial,” school social worker Jan Beutter told The Elkhart Truth. “These adults are here just for them, and you can’t put a price on that.

Science Club Watches a Drone Come Alive (Globe Gazette, Iowa)

More than a dozen students were recently able to see the world from a new perspective, thanks to a drone demonstration by the Iowa State University Extension afterschool science club. The students viewed everything the drone’s camera captured through specialized goggles. Back at their regular afterschool program, the kids are now learning how to fly two toy versions of the drone. Afterschool program coordinator Kimberly Booth told the Globe Gazette that she hoped the drone demonstration would “open up that world to the kids.”

Life Lessons in the Kitchen (San Francisco Chronicle, California)

Two Mount Diablo High Schoolers are giving younger students the tools they need to make healthy choices through the 18 Reasons Cooking Matters afterschool program. Cooking Matters motivates young people to make their own food, teaching them how to prepare hummus, yogurt parfaits and other healthy snacks while doling out food science lessons that demonstrate important nutritional concepts. The program gives kids more than the ability to cook – they also gain life skills like public speaking, discipline, self-confidence and leadership. “For a lot of kids this age, this is the first time they’re responsible for their own meals,” Sasha Bernstein, head of a culinary program known as the Cooking Project, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “They’re taking on lots of new responsibilities in their lives, and this is something they can own.”

St. Lucie County Extends Youth Ride Free (Palm Beach Post, Florida)

Many students from St. Lucie County attended library events, summer camps and recreational activities this summer thanks to Youth Ride Free, a pilot program that provided free bus rides. “This gives all youths, despite their means, opportunities to partake in afterschool programs geared for them, library access or even employment opportunities that they would not be able to access because they could not afford to,” Council on Aging Transportation Director Marianna Arbore told Palm Beach Post. The program was so successful that the Board of County Commissioners agreed to fund free rides for youth under 18 year-round.