Archives:

Select:

Weekly Media Roundup: July 18, 2018

READ FULL STORY

Weekly Media Roundup: July 18, 2018

Program connects young minds with learning at Boys & Girls Club (Lowell Sun, Massachusetts)

At a STEAM makerspace in Billerica, Mass., hands-on experiences with cutting-edge technology stimulate students’ love of learning. Created by the local Boys & Girls Club and supported by corporate technology donations, the STEAM Center gets its name from a popular acronym for curricula that combine science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Students discover these subjects by building everything from self-sustaining aquariums to analog analyzers. “It’s almost like they’re learning things, without knowing they’re learning,” program teacher Bobby Ackroyd told the Lowell Sun. “If a kid is doing something and then gaining an experience, then they’ll remember the scientific [principles] behind it.”

Grassroots program helps low-income, high-achieving Delaware students blossom (WHYY, Delaware)

In Wilmington, Del., a middle school teacher created an afterschool program to help his low-income, high-achieving students access top-quality high schools. Leading Youth through Empowerment, or LYTE, now aids 95 students across Wilmington schools with guidance on everything from preparing to take entrance exams to filling out financial aid forms. Ankur Arya was inspired to create the program because securing a scholarship to a top-tier high school made a big difference in his own life. The pathways to high school turn into pathways to college: A recent ceremony attended by Wilmington’s mayor celebrated the nearly $1 million in college scholarships and aid the program’s first high school graduates have qualified for. “We are so proud of those students,’’ Arya told WHYY.

At harbor island camp, teens train to be civic leaders (Boston Globe, Massachusetts)

In Boston, nearly 100 teens are spending their summers learning how to create change in their communities. Camp Harbor View added a civics course for its high schoolers who are training to mentor the camp’s 900 younger students. Students benefit from open discussion of social issues that affect their lives, including racism, classism, gun violence, and housing. Mayor Martin Walsh recently visited and led a discussion. “I know that how I was raised, and how a lot of these kids around camp are raised, they’re meant for greater things, and they’re meant for these types of movements,” 15-year-old trainee Laisha Pichardo told The Boston Globe.

Enabling young leaders: Waco's Freedom School grows, shows progress (Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas)

When Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver read a book about desegregation to more than 50 students attending Baylor’s Freedom School, he joined a national summer learning effort that emphasizes the connection between literacy and civic engagement. An initiative of the Children’s Defense Fund, summer “Freedom Schools” serve 160,000 students nationwide. By emphasizing culturally relevant literature and civic education, the programs aim to combat summer learning loss and inspire student confidence. It pays off: last year 97 percent of Baylor Freedom School students maintained or increased their reading abilities. Freedom School Executive Director Lakia Scott told The Waco Tribune she hopes students see “they’re not just children but they are change agents because of how smart they are and how much power they hold within themselves.”

Weekly Media Roundup: February 26, 2025

Discover How the Leaps After School Program is Transforming Lives at Harrison Elementary, News Channel 9 (Tennessee) At Harrison Elementary’s Leaps After School Program in Chattanooga, Tennessee, students are publishing a newspaper focusing on Black historical figures to be displayed...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/26/25

Weekly Media Roundup: February 19, 2025

Durham Teens Fight for After-School Program Funding Amid Youth Gun Violence: 'My Safe Space,' ABC 11 (North Carolina) In Durham, North Carolina, teenagers rallied together to urge Durham City Council members to increase funding for afterschool programs, sharing how critical these...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/19/25

Weekly Media Roundup: February 12, 2025

'He Invests His Own Money': After School Program Started by Pasco School Employee Still Going Strong, WFTS-TV (Florida) In the 1980s, Eugene Scott founded an afterschool program called This Is How We Do It to provide food, music, dance, mentorship and more to students in his Pasco County...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/12/25

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...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/05/25

Weekly Media Roundup: January 29, 2025

Afterschool Program Introduces West Columbia Students to Technology, The Facts (Texas) Students at West Columbia Elementary in Texas are taking part in hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities in the new Robocatters afterschool program, which already has a long...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      01/29/25

Weekly Media Roundup: January 22, 2025

Another Year, Another Long Waitlist for BUSD After-School Program, Berkeleyside (California) Due to ongoing staffing shortages, more than 200 students are currently waitlisted for afterschool programs at Berkeley Unified School District. Parents in the district’s PTA Collaborative on...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      01/22/25

Weekly Media Roundup: January 15, 2025

New 4-H Program Will Bring STEAM to Area Students, KNEB (Nebraska) Students in rural Expanding Learning Opportunity programs in Nebraska are exploring aerospace, electronics, engineering, robotics and more thanks to a partnership with 4-H. The Think Make Create Lab is a six-by-12 mobile trailer...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      01/15/25

Weekly Media Roundup: January 8, 2025

Parks and Recreation Secures Grant to Bring Physical Activity Education to Youth in Afterschool Program, WBIW (Indiana) More than 50 students in the Banneker Afterschool program in Bloomington, Indiana are taking part in fun physical activities this year led by Indiana University School of...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      01/08/25

Weekly Media Roundup: December 18, 2024

Mason City YMCA Teaching Social and Emotional Skills to Kids, News-Press Now (Iowa) Students in the Mason City YMCA afterschool program in Iowa practice communication, emotional regulation, empathy and more in twice-weekly social and emotional learning sessions, learning, for instance, to take...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      12/18/24

Weekly Media Roundup: December 11, 2024

Usher Helps Cut Ribbon On New Content Studio at Metro Boys and Girls, WSB-TV (Georgia) This week, superstar Usher visited the Whitehead Boys & Girls Club in Atlanta, Georgia, to unveil a new content studio he donated featuring soundboards, mics, computers and other audio equipment. The...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      12/11/24