Weekly Media Roundup: March 13, 2019

Sioux City Youth Have Fun While Learning About Science from Morningside Professor, Students, Sioux City Journal (Iowa)

Each week, students in the afterschool program at the Boys & Girls Club of Siouxland in Iowa learn science from a local chemistry professor and his students through the program’s “Mentors in Science” class. Professor Brian McFarland facilitates hands-on, age-appropriate experiments to spark elementary students’ curiosity. Experiments have included sinking a marshmallow in water to learn about density and removing iodine stains using oranges to explore chemical reactions. “Science isn’t boring or scary,” college senior and mentor Elvis Castro told the Sioux City Journal. “It’s fun and that’s what [we] want the kids to take away from this class.”

After-School Program Benefits from School, 4-H Collaboration, The Globe (Minnesota)

For about 15 years, the Dragon Adventures afterschool program in Minnesota has provided safe, enriching afterschool programming to students in kindergarten through second grade. Recently, the program expanded its partnership with 4-H to expose students to high school mentors as well as new skills and experiences. Each week, high school 4-H Youth Ambassadors visit the program to facilitate activities centered around leadership, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and more. Past sessions have included food and nutrition education, team building and making barn quilts. “The teens run with it — it’s a youth-teaching-youth opportunity,” Nobles County 4-H Program Coordinator Katie Klosterbuer told the Globe.

‘This Is So Much Fun’: New Program Giving Lake Worth Students Plenty of Exposure to the Arts, The Palm Beach Post (Florida)

A cultural nonprofit and an art museum are teaming up with afterschool programs in Florida to increase students’ access to arts education. Through Arts in My Backyard Afterschool, students work with art professionals to express themselves through various artistic mediums and explore the impact of social media in their lives. Students also tour the Norton Museum of Art, where their artwork will be displayed. “Having more agencies partnering to create experiences for young people isn’t just important, it’s powerful and more people should be doing it,” Norton Associate Curator of Education Yimarie Rivera told Palm Beach Post.

Young Entrepreneurs Dive Back Into 'Shark Tank', Fremont News Messenger (Ohio)

Last week, students in the Young Entrepreneurs afterschool program in Ohio presented their original ideas for businesses at a “Shark Tank”-style event. The program helps middle school students identify ideas they love, develop business plans and refine their presentation skills. Students had eight minutes to pitch their ideas to the ‘sharks’ – a panel of local business owners, leaders and educators who awarded prizes. Business ideas ranged from a design-your-own donut shop to a site where children affected by the drug crisis can receive help. “This had everything to do with something they were passionate about and they took that opportunity and they flew,” teacher Kerry Fial told the Fremont News Messenger.