Weekly Media Roundup: May 4, 2016

A Journey to Medicine (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania)

Over the past seven years, nearly 100 African-American teens have explored a potential career in medicine thanks to the Gateway Medical Society’s mentoring program, Journey to Medicine. Kids in the program receive hands-on basic medical training, academic tutoring, and guidance on how to get into college and beyond. “African-American males are the group with the lowest representation in medicine, and this group had a vision to change that,” Rhonda Johnson, a Gateway Medical Society board member, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Eli Paperboy Reed Lifts Young Voices in the Gospel Spirit (New York Times, New York)

When musician Eli Paperboy Reed visited the Gospel for Teens afterschool program in 2013, he proposed a new class in quartet singing, a looser style of music than the other choir programs at the Mama Foundation for the Arts. Since then, he has been dropping by once a week to teach groups of young men gospel songs and instill in them the confidence to sing their hearts out on street corners. Mama Foundation executive director Vy Higginsen says the class has been therapeutic for the students involved. “So whether you decide to pursue a music career or be a veterinarian, it really doesn’t matter,” she told the New York Times. “When you take the music with you, you’re taking your own therapy with you.”

Students Show Off at Maker Expo (Cincinnati Enquirer, Ohio)

Reverse-engineered light sabers, 3-D printed water bottles and sumo-wrestling robots—all designed and built by high school students—were on display at last week’s World Maker and Inventor Expo, an event put on by NKY MakerSpace. Students from four counties convened at Boone County High School to see what kinds of projects their peers have been working on in STEM classes and afterschool programs. Boone County Schools expanded learning opportunities coordinator Ryan Kellinghaus called the event a success and said “Parents see the power in how we’re making education fill the needs of our community and our economy…The interactive element of this education is important and it’s why we put together workshops (at the MakerSpace).”

Students Give a Helping, Artistic Hand (Journal Review, Indiana)

The newly renovated Darlington Community Center now features a colorful mural showcasing the best parts of town, thanks to the Sugar Creek Elementary School’s art club. Fifth graders in the afterschool club worked together to design the mural, presented their design to the Darlington Town Council and raised all the money to make the project happen. Town Council Member Kim Carpenter said she and her fellow councilmembers were impressed with the presentation and thrilled the students wanted to be involved. “It is great to see the kids become invested in our local community project,” she told the Journal Review.