Weekly Media Roundup: July 1, 2020

Learning Center to Have At-Home Learning Sessions, Meadeville Tribune (Pennsylvania)

Each Monday through Thursday in July, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Mentoring Program in Meadeville, Pennsylvania will hold interactive, hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) lessons online. The sessions will include virtual explorations of Meadeville watersheds, a citizen science class, an economics class, and more, and many will be led by Allegheny College professors and students. Funded by a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, the program aims to help students discover new interests and maintain their academic skills. “Celebrity speakers for the summer include Area Shopper general manager Lon Wilson and District Judge Samuel Pendolino,” the Meadeville Tribune reported.

In Census 2020 Video Jersey City, Paterson Teens Make Their Musical Talents Count, TAPinto.net (New Jersey)

Students in a music-based afterschool program called New City Kids in Jersey City and Paterson, New Jersey recently released a rap music video highlighting the importance of completing the 2020 Census. The music video, which has garnered nearly 70,000 views, was written, performed, and filmed by students. The project aims to increase Census participation, which affects funding for education, afterschool programs and more. “So many of the resources that end up providing support to the communities we live in…[come] through the channel of the census,” Jeremy Jerschina, executive director of New City Kids: Paterson, told TAPinto.net.

Learning Initiatives Seek to Battle ‘Summer Learning Loss’ and ‘COVID Slide’, Delaware Public Media (Delaware)

Students in Delaware can engage in summer learning, stay healthy, explore careers and more this year through a wide variety of virtual programs. In the WAVE program, students can take free classes via Zoom, ranging from computer coding to mindfulness to creative writing to financial literacy, as well as attend daily meetings focused on social and emotional issues. The program will also include virtual college and career preparation sessions throughout the summer. “Just like all waves don’t perform in the same way, our whole design is based on the belief that no two kids are the same,” Catherine Lindroth, co-founder of WAVE, told Delaware Public Media. Separately, the Summer Collaborative program will offer daily virtual reading instruction and project-based learning to more than 550 elementary school students, as well as “Tyler’s Camp,” which focuses on leadership, engineering, sports, arts and literacy.

TikTok Is Helping Launch a Songwriter Academy for Diverse Students, Rolling Stone

To promote diversity in the music industry, After-School All-Stars, TikTok, Syracuse University and music publisher Sony/ATV have partnered to create a ‘songwriter academy’ this summer. Students from underrepresented communities will work with After-School All-Stars staff mentors and take classes on music production, publishing, marketing, songwriting and more. Grammy winner Timbaland and multi-platinum producer DJ Dahl will share their creative processes with students. Carlos Santini, After-School All-Stars executive vice president of programs, told Rolling Stone, “Our afterschool programs sit in the very cities that have experienced the inequities brought by COVID-19 and the ongoing racism that has yet again been exposed through police brutality and the death of George Floyd and many others in the Black community. Our collective voice will be heard in a bigger way because of this amazing collaboration.”