Weekly Media Roundup: July 13, 2022

Camp Promotes Essential Bond Between Sports and Mental Health, The Bradford Sun (Pennsylvania)

This summer, mental health professionals are joining the 21^st Century Sports Camp in Bradford, Pennsylvania to talk to students about coping with their emotions, self-care, and other social-emotional skills.  The program, which includes sports activities, field trips, meals and transportation, is free to students thanks to a 21^st Century Community Learning Centers grant. “This year we’re focusing hard on mental health because we have all seen in our age groups over the past two years that a return to normalcy can be difficult, and that we need to be reteaching them a lot of stuff,” camp supervisor Georgie Auteri told the Bradford Sun. “Using sports as the primary activity and then involving mental health within it gets a lot of the kids wanting to come.”

Continuing Support for Afterschool and Summer Learning is Key for New Mexico Students, Carlsbad Current Argus (New Mexico)

Last year, the state of New Mexico set aside $6 million in federal pandemic relief funds for out-of-school time programs. That was a meaningful step forward, but long-term funding is needed to ensure all students can access the afterschool and summer learning programs they need to recover from the pandemic, New Mexico Lt. Governor Howie Morales and New Mexico Out-of-School Time Network Executive Director May Sagbakken write in a recent column for the Carlsbad Current Argus. “Afterschool and summer learning programs are vital supports to communities across New Mexico, and we must ensure the recent influx of financial help for them continues…. Recognizing the serious impacts the pandemic had on young people’s well-being, expanding access to afterschool and summer learning is more important than ever,” they write.

Refuge And Connection, Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Arkansas)

The Fenix Arts center in Fayetteville, Arkansas will open an afterschool program this fall designed to be a safe and creative space for LGTBQIA+ students ages 12 and older. The Fenix Youth Refuge Experience After School Arts Program will offer a variety of classes taught by local artists and host art exhibits each semester featuring the students’ creations. “With the word ‘refuge,’ we really wanted to highlight how this is a completely safe, nonjudgmental space for these kids to be in. This isn’t about judgment at all, and it’s not about competing for anything or in-fighting. It’s all about understanding and peace and giving those kids a place in which to feel understood and to connect with each other,” Taylor Johnson, gallery manager and program coordinator, told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Mercyhurst Will Offer After-School Science Program for North East Elementary Students, Erie Times-News (Pennsylvania)

Starting this fall, elementary school students attending the STEM & Vine afterschool program in North East, Pennsylvania will grow their own food, raise trout, analyze soil and crop lineage, and study agriculture, coding and robotics. The new STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program is facilitated by Mercyhurst University’s education department in partnership with a wide variety of community organizations. “S.T.E.M. initiatives should be grounded in the context of the community to get students invested in the science in use in their own backyard, and then expand from there,” Mercyhurst Education Department Chairwoman Amy Burniston told the Erie Times-News. “This program will be rich in S.T.E.M. applications tied to the North East agricultural industry.”