Weekly Media Roundup: January 5, 2022

Woodstock Day School Media Arts Program Awarded Grant, HudsonValley360 (New York)

Thanks to a $49,500 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, students in Ulster County, New York will have the opportunity to learn filmmaking at a new media arts afterschool program at Woodstock Day School this coming fall. “The arts have long been a critical sector in our economy, and as we continue to rebuild a stronger New York, it’s essential we do all we can help this industry thrive once again,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul told HudsonValley360. The program is open to all students in the county and will provide hands-on training in filmmaking and communications.

A Successful Enrichment Program for High School Students in Baton Rouge Prepares for an Upcoming Expansion in Mid City, 225 Magazine (Louisiana)

At the Humanities Amped afterschool program in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, program leaders use restorative educational practices to help students heal from trauma, develop their voices, learn problem-solving skills, explore interests and careers, and succeed academically. In addition to its program at Broadmoor High, Humanities Amped is working with three other youth-serving organizations to create a Youth City Lab in a former rug store where students can access a wide variety of resources. “I didn’t really have support in my family for school, and coming to Humanities Amped, the staff kept telling me, ‘I believe in you,’ and ‘You need to believe in yourself,’” Tareil George, who attended the program and later joined its staff, told 225 Magazine. “The love, the healing and the determination made me believe.”

Deaf Kids on Stage: Using Theater as Therapy, WFMZ (Pennsylvania)

For the past 25 years, No Limits Theater has used theater as a tool for deaf students to develop stronger language, reading and social skills. Recognizing that speech therapy is costly, the organization opened two centers in California and one in Las Vegas that provide free afterschool programs to low-income students with hearing loss. “We opened up the afterschool program because the school district was only given 15 minutes of speech therapy a week with a group of kids, which means nobody’s picking up a language,” No Limits Theater spokeswoman Kathy Buckley told WFMZ.

Community Celebrates Grand Opening of New Boys & Girls Club, Beloit Daily News (Wisconsin)

The newly opened Joel Barrett Boys & Girls Club building in Beloit, Wisconsin will enable Stateline Boys & Girls Club (SBGC) to serve more students and offer expanded programming, including science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) activities, career exploration, teen programming, cooking classes, a music studio, sports and more. SBGC’s Capital Campaign raised $5.5 million in just over one year to build the new site. “This facility and the staff here will forever change the trajectory of youth and teens in this community,” Boys & Girls Clubs of America CEO and President Jim Clark told the Beloit Daily News. “What you’ve created here will make a difference for generations.”