Weekly Media Roundup: October 17, 2019

New After-School Program Promotes Academic and Personal Growth, Central Illinois Proud (Illinois)

In the coming weeks, teenagers living in Peoria, Illinois will be able to access a new comprehensive afterschool program called Teen Reach when the school day ends. The program is a collaboration between the Greater Peoria Family YMCA and Peoria Public Schools. At the program, teens will receive tutoring and participate in recreational opportunities, cultural activities, life skills education and more. “[Teen Reach will] provide [students] with social and emotional support and it also puts them in a structured activity for them to participate in at the end of their school day,” Derrick Booth, director of social and emotional learning at Peoria Public schools, told Central Illinois Proud

New Boys & Girls Club Building Brings in After-School Opportunities, The Times-Delphic (Illinois)

The newly-opened Gregory & Suzie Glazer Burt Boys & Girls Club, located at Drake University, is the second Boys & Girls Club in the organization’s history to open on a private university campus. The unique location will benefit both the Club’s and the university’s students. The Club will provide robust afterschool programming to up to 250 students in kindergarten through 12th grade in Des Moines, and Drake students will have the opportunity to mentor children, organize events, help stock the food pantry and more. The new Club will feature a wide variety of activities including a recording studio, a test kitchen, basketball, and a lyricism program. “[The lyricism program] teaches the power of words,” Program Specialist Katie Tucker told the Times-Delphic. “The kids can rap, do slam poems, and use their voices [positively].”

4-H Has Presence in Schools, Beatrice Daily Sun (Nebraska)

4-H is enhancing the time children spend outside of school through a wide range of programs in Gage County, Nebraska.  At the BLAST afterschool program at Paddock Lane Elementary School, 4-H educators help students learn about electricity, explore circuits, prepare their own healthy snacks and meals, and build and program robots. At the middle and high school level, they also expose students to career opportunities by introducing them to community leaders, teach photography and agricultural literacy, and lead students in hatching eggs and sewing quilts for veterans.  “[4-H has] offered valuable expertise, taught classes and been an integral part of the unique opportunities we can offer students,” Doris Martin, Project Director for Beatrice Public School BLAST After-school, told the Beatrice Daily Sun.

Robstown ISD Now Implementing 4D Technology in All After School Programs, KRIS 6 News (Texas)

At 21st Century Community Learning Centers afterschool programs in Robstown, Texas, students build virtual rollercoasters, explore human hearts, learn about drones and more using 4D technology. The software aims to spark students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through hands-on games and activities. By next month, the technology will be utilized in every afterschool program in Robstown Independent School District. “I mean the teacher just stands at the board drawing, but [with this technology] you get to see with your own eyes, and you get to discover by yourself,” second grader Aaron Rodruiguez told KRIS 6 News.