Weekly Media Roundup: November 20, 2019

Longtime After-School Program Director in Davis District Recognized As State Director of the Year for 2019, Standard-Examiner (Utah)

In Davis School District afterschool programs in Clearfield, Utah, students present their own business plans, cook creative, original meals, play music, learn fun fitness skills such as hula-hooping, explore the science of circuit boards, get help with their homework and more. Funded through a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, the programs serve about 1,200 students at 16 elementary schools and one junior high. This year, the Utah Afterschool Network recognized the programs’ director, Courtney Ward, with the Utah Afterschool Program Director of the Year Award. “We have to teach the kids, but not let them know they’re learning,” Ward told the Standard-Examiner.

Shakespeare in Detroit Connects Grade School Students to Theater, Click On Detroit (Michigan)

This fall, Shakespeare in Detroit facilitated a free out-of-school time educational program for students in third through 12th grade. In Shakespeare STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) students not only learned about performing a Shakespearean play, but also the technology behind lighting and sound design, the engineering elements of set construction and more. Speaking about the program’s staff, Artistic Director Sam White told Click On Detroit, “We look like their mother, their cousins, their neighbor. You can’t buy the type of connection that we have with these kids, so it was imperative in order for me to hold my head up high as a Detroiter and an artist to do this sort of work.”

Boys & Girls Club Opens Five New Clubs in Mobile County, NBC 15 (Alabama)

Students at five elementary and middle schools in Mobile, Alabama will soon benefit from Boys & Girls Clubs of South Alabama (BGCSA) afterschool programs thanks to a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant. Each site will provide meals and homework help, and students will participate in science and technology projects, field trips and more. “If kids are in a safe and positive place after school at least three times a week, they do better academically, but they also stay out of trouble, because between the hours of three and seven is the highest time for juvenile crime in our community. So we're providing them a safe place where they already are,” BGCSA CEO Tim Hills told NBC 15.

Kids Get Fit and Have Fun with Cardio Drumming, ABC 7 (California)

The Boys & Girls Club at Burton Elementary afterschool program in Porterville, California recently introduced children to fun way to get physically active while learning music. In ‘cardio drumming,’ students create rhythms by hitting materials such as yoga balls and plastic storage tubs with drumsticks using dance-like motions.  “You know a lot of the kids don't like to exercise at all," instructor Rocio Ramirez told ABC 7. “Sometimes they don't even want to go outside, so I thought it was different, they could exercise and have fun at the same time."