CareFlight Lands at Johnson Elementary School for BOYS2MEN Program (Montrose Daily Press, Colorado)
More than 40 boys at Johnson Elementary School were thrilled to get a visit from a medical helicopter last week as part of the BOYS2MEN afterschool program. Community figures like firefighters, paramedics and police officers have been visiting the school to give students positive role models and show them the different ways they can serve their community as they grow up. “Everybody has a role to play in their community,” third-grade teacher Andrew Steck told the Montrose Daily Press. “For some of these kids, it’s their opportunity to think, ‘This is something I can explore when I get older.’”
Plotting Course to Future (Redlands Daily Facts, California)
A Redlands couple is working to make sure students from underrepresented backgrounds have greater access to higher education through the Rochford Scholar College Access Program. Tim and Carol Rochford worked with officials at the University of Redlands to craft the program, which will provide 20 students a year with college and career readiness training, tutoring, college tours and more, along with a $30,000 scholarship for students admitted to the university. “We know that this program is designed for kids who have the potential but (may) not otherwise express that potential,” University of Redlands’ School of Education Dean Andrew Wall told the Redlands Daily Facts. “We’re trying to grab hold of students and parents to give them the knowledge that will help guide them to college.”
Little Luxuries: New Clubs Mentor Girls, Young Women (Telegraph Herald, Iowa)
A hair salon owner and single mother of two has created a club to help mold young girls of color into confident, passionate individuals. The Little Luxuries Girls Club, sponsored by Dubuque’s Multicultural Family Center, gives students opportunities to work on community service projects, provides guest speakers and exposes the girls to arts and culture by bringing them to plays and other events. “It’s really helped these girls come out of their shells,” program creator Shamika Rainer told the Telegraph Herald. “It allows them to share and be more confident and comfortable with whoever they are … and to see that we all have something to contribute to society.”
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Kentuckiana recently launched a program meant to connect young students with mentors in law enforcement to build trust between the two communities and give youths positive role models to look up to. Fifteen firefighters from the Jeffersonville Fire Department have already committed. “We have so many kids in our community [who] could really benefit from somebody who could just kind of walk that journey of life with them,” Southern Indiana Mentoring Partnership member Jerry Finn told the Evening News and Tribune. “We would love it if every child in our school system had somebody they could turn to if they had questions or need some support or just need a friend or help with homework.”