Weekly Media Roundup: January 23, 2019

Kids Create Inspirational Messages for Others on MLK Day, KSFY (South Dakota)

Students in afterschool programs at the Multi-Cultural Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota spent Martin Luther King Jr. Day decorating rocks with positive messages to place around their community and writing greeting cards for nursing home residents. Program staff aimed to give children an opportunity to lead their own service project and reflect on the meaning behind the holiday. “What we see Martin Luther King doing is to pass that message of love forward, and we want the kiddos to do the same,” Executive Director Christy Nicolaisen told KSFY.

'Teen Warehouse' to Provide Opportunities for Young People in Wilmington's Riverside Neighborhood, Delaware Online (Delaware)

A new “Teen Warehouse” offering afterschool programming in Wilmington, Delaware will be run ‘for teens, by teens.’ With support from the Kingswood Community Center and the Delaware Division of Social Services, teens selected to a fellowship will work at the center and decide which programs to offer. Options include theater programs, sports activities, college counseling, and mental health services. “If you really want to reduce the violence and the chaos that happens in this city from time to time, we need to provide our teens with hope, aspiration, support and guidance, and that’s what we’re doing here at the Warehouse,” Kingswood Community Center Executive Director Logan Herring told Delaware Online.

Brittany Lincicome Puts The First Tee First in St. Petersburg, Golfweek

LPGA two-time tournament champion Brittany Lincicome is on a mission to promote an afterschool and summer golf program she attended while in elementary school. The First Tee program in St. Petersburg, Florida aims to change the face of golf and build pathways to college for students by providing golf instruction and mentorship to more than 1,000 young people each year, many of whom are low-income. The program also provides homework help and offers an art studio and opportunities for older students to take on leadership roles. Lincicome helps out with everything from fundraising to meeting and encouraging the children. “All we’re really trying to do is give [students] a chance,” Executive Director Rick Waltman told Golfweek. “Every kid deserves a chance.”

STEAM Stories: Washington Island After-School Science, Fox 11 News (Wisconsin)

The scientific method takes center stage at the Snapshot Science afterschool program in Washington Island, Wisconsin. Elementary students generate hypotheses, test their assumptions and learn from the results through daily hands-on experiments about concepts including friction, sound and gravity. A central goal of the program is to spark students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as early as possible so students have a foundation in those subjects as they enter middle school and explore future careers. “I think it’s really fun probably because of all the experiments… Teamwork is important because maybe if you’re partners, you have to work together to get the experiment right,” fourth-grade student Julia Pratt told Fox 11 News.