Weekly Media Roundup: June 22, 2016

Mobile Tech Lab Offers Children Alternatives to Crime and Violence (Rockford Register Star, Illinois)

Rockford students are spending their afterschool hours learning computer programming, graphic design and video production out of a 30-foot-long RV. The Rockford Police Department donated the vehicle to Rev. Samuel Sarpiya’s Center for Nonviolence and Conflict Transformation so he could transform it into a mobile tech lab that would give youth positive role models and valuable skills and steer them away from a life of crime. “As we teach nonviolence, we teach skills and leadership development with a goal of transforming conflict… and we hope that this will become a prototype that can be used as a model across the country,” Rev. Sarpiya told the Rockford Register Star.

Weed and Seed Is Safe Harbor for At-Risk Youths (Las Cruces Sun-News, New Mexico)

The Arthur C. Fielder Safe Haven Weed and Seed Program has played a pivotal role in cultivating valuable skills in Las Cruces students for the past 17 years. Las Cruces Police Department youth program coordinator Felipe Briseño said the program’s goal is to weed out bad elements of impoverished neighborhoods—drugs and crime—and seed them with good. “A lot of (the kids) are searching for a role model or they’re searching for a place to hang out and be comfortable, and we provide that for them here,” he told the Las Cruces Sun-News. Weed and Seed runs afterschool and summer programs for children enrolled in a free lunch program, or living in a single parent home or a home in which the parents attend school.

Foundation Give Lewiston Students Thousands of Books (Lewiston Sun-Journal, Maine)

More than a thousand Lewiston elementary school students took home eight free books to read over the summer, thanks to a massive donation from Reading Is Fundamental, a national children’s literacy organization. The influx of books is meant to help stem summer learning loss for Lewiston’s more disadvantaged students. The group also donated 40 books to each Lewiston K-2 classroom, bringing the total count of donated books to more than 13,000. “A lot of students don’t have their own books at home, so this is a real gift,” Montello Elementary School literacy coach Kelly Johnson told the Lewiston Sun-Journal. “It keeps them reading and helps prevent that summer slide.”

Local “Doctor Who” Fans Go International (Park Cities People, Texas)

When a group of students at The Lamplighter School decided to start an afterschool fan club dedicated to the British sci-fi show “Doctor Who” more than two years ago, they planned to just spend their afternoons discussing the plot and character developments on their favorite TV show. Instead, with the encouragement of drama teacher Jeff Peck, the students have put together a 217-page episode guide that is now gaining international attention. The club was recently featured on the cover of Doctor Who Appreciation Society’s magazine, and students even had the chance to meet several stars of the show at a convention in April. “Fans all around the world are reading what our Lamplighter students have written about the show,” Peck told Park Cities People. “I don’t think even the kids realize how big they have become.”