Weekly Media Roundup: February 5, 2025

Claysburg-Kimmel Touts New Programs for Students, Altoona Mirror (Pennsylvania)

Students at the Bulldog After-School Club in Claysburg, Pennsylvania are participating in new educational activities with a Beam mobile projector that transforms the center into an interactive visual playground. The 21^st Century Community Learning Center program focuses on improving students’ attendance and mental health through engaging activities and games. “[The program] addresses the three priority risk factors cited for Blair County substance use prevention services — low commitment toward school, parental attitudes and perceived risk of drug use,” Claysburg-Kimmel School District Superintendent Brian Helsel told the Altoona Mirror. Bulldog After-School Club offers afterschool and summer programs for kindergarteners through sixth graders.

Cheyenne River Youth Project Offers Fun, Learning & Connection at "The Main," Native News Online (South Dakota)

Since 1988, the Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) in Eagle Butte, South Dakota has welcomed local students to its youth center, The Main, with a wide variety of activities and opportunities, including a garden, teen center, outdoor park, beekeeping houses, healthy meals, Lakota cultural lessons, arts and crafts, and much more. “The most important thing for any child’s healthy development is safety,” CRYP Founder and Chief Executive Office Julie Garreau told Native News Online. “They cannot focus on learning, self-care or cultural connection if they do not feel safe, so that is our primary objective at The Main. We provide safe spaces and caregivers, we provide nourishment, and we demonstrate every day that they can rely on us. We will be here for them.”

Huntsville Man Using Golf to Teach Elementary School Students STEM, News 19 (Alabama)

Through his nonprofit, Par Excellence Youth Development, Howard Bankhead teaches students in the Madison County Elementary School afterschool program how to play golf, while incorporating math lessons along the way. Program leaders say the golf lessons and mentorship Bankhead provides have helped students improve their social skills as well. Site Director Alex Forsythe told News 19 she’s impressed by how “instead of being rambunctious, being chaotic, [students] actually stop, they slow down.  They think about what they are doing, they think about how they are talking to other people.”

Skills Center Looking to Impact More Tampa Bay Youth, Bay News 9 (Florida)

Six months ago, the Skills Center opened a new $13 million facility in Tampa, Florida where students can access tutoring, explore careers, learn to code, record their own podcasts, play sports, and more. “Each child that comes in is assigned their own counselor as the youth development specialist,” youth development specialist Tocara Jackson told Bay News 9. “We’re able to go up to the school’s guidance counselors and be that bridge for the parent and the child.” The center is currently exploring partnerships with the local bus system to make the free afterschool program more accessible to students in other parts of the city.