Weekly Media Roundup: February 18, 2026

Monroe Pastor’s STEM Center Empowers Local Students, Transforms Neighborhood, WSOC (North Carolina)

At the New Covenant Community Development Center’s afterschool program in Monroe, North Carolina, middle and high school students explore STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) through hands-on, engaging activities. This past fall, the center opened a free afterschool program specifically for elementary school students. “What we discovered is about the time we were getting those students in high school, they were already behind in STEM education and STEM activities and training,” Founder Osco Gardin told WSOC. The center also plans to expand its summer programs to include elementary school students.

Project Reclaim Youth Aides Lead by Example in Afterschool Program, Minden Press-Herald (Louisiana)

In Minden, Louisiana, the Project Reclaim afterschool program provides high school students leadership opportunities as mentors and role models to the younger students in the program. “I think that should be lauded, applauded, and recognized. We’re working hard to rewrite the narrative; we want people to see the value in the young people that we are working with,” Executive Director Ron Anderson told the Minden Press-Herald. The program has seen improvements in students’ attendance and lower juvenile crime rates. Anderson notes the afterschool program is a wise public investment, costing only $2 per day per student versus $400 per day to house a youth in a Louisiana juvenile facility.

The Overlooked Link Between Literacy, STEM and Student Success, Youth Today

At Books, Bots and Beyond, an afterschool program in Falls Church, Virginia, students get systematic literacy instruction while also tackling STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) projects, including coding, experimenting and designing. Program leaders say the STEM and literacy activities reinforce each other by sparking students’ interests and building their perseverance. “As students persist through complex STEM challenges, they begin to trust their ability to do hard things. That confidence carries into literacy lessons, where striving readers are more willing to take risks, stay engaged and believe they can work through difficulty. Reading is no longer separate from curiosity or perseverance. It fuels both,” Books, Bots and Beyond Regional Tutoring Director Carly Swanson writes in a recent guest column for Youth Today.

When Schools Charge Rent for School-Age Care, Families and Communities Feel the Impact, New Hampshire Bulletin (New Hampshire)

As Rochester School District considers charging afterschool programs rent for use of school buildings, New Hampshire Afterschool Network lead Sonjia Tainter warns such a measure would likely lead to increased costs for families and could force programs to close amidst a statewide afterschool shortage. In a recent guest column for the New Hampshire Bulletin, Tainter explains why afterschool programs are essential care, workforce and education infrastructure, and notes that 57% of families who can’t access afterschool cite cost as a major barrier. “The question communities must grapple with is whether shifting costs onto school-age care programs ultimately strengthens or weakens the systems families rely on. When care collapses, rebuilding it is far more difficult and expensive than sustaining it,” Tainter writes.