Weekly Media Roundup: July 12, 2023

Winnequah Elementary Students Learn to Cook, Code, Build Rockets in Summer School, The Herald-Independent (Wisconsin)

At Winnequah Elementary School in Monona, Wisconsin, about 350 students are spending their summer developing their reading and math skills while exploring new interests including archeology, computer coding, cooking, rocket-building and more. Thanks to a partnership with Monona Munchies, a local nonprofit, the program also serves a free lunch each day, and students can take lunches home to their families. “We work really hard to create this as a safe place for students where they can come and be free, be themselves and take risks,” Summer School Coordinator and Associate Principal Jesse Starr told the Herald-Independent. “I think it’s an opportunity for students to find their interests and things that are important and engaging to them.”

A Dallas Summer Learning Ecosystem is Helping Students Fight COVID Learning Loss, The Dallas Morning News (Texas)

About 600 community partners make up a summer learning ecosystem in Dallas that serves more than 47,000 students at around 1,300 programs, which are designed to help students catch up on social-emotional and academic skills after the disruptions of COVID. Partners include businesses, nonprofits, museums, libraries and others, and coalition leaders say the wide range of hands-on activities programs offer is essential to helping students reengage. “We’re probably going to be dealing with the echoes of that [pandemic learning loss] for years to come,” Byron Sanders, CEO of Big Thought, which helps coordinate the learning ecosystem, told the Dallas Morning News. “There’s not one organization that can serve all of these kids, not even the school district.”

Boys and Girls Club of Kingsville Opens Registration for KISD's Four Day School Week, KRIS (Texas)

In response to the recent decision by Kingsville Independent School District to shorten the school week to four days a week, the Boys & Girls Club of Kingsville, Texas is expanding its afterschool program to include extended programming on Fridays. The Friday program will offer many of the same activities in their afterschool program, including academic support, life skills lessons and health and fitness activities. “It mixes learning and fun and they add a bit of activities to it,” Mason Silva, a student in the Boys & Girls Club afterschool program, told KRIS. “I think this place is a great place if you’re a parent who has to go to work and has a kid and don’t want them sitting at home all the time.”

Northport Boys and Girls Club Sees Major Success One Month After Opening its Doors, WBMA (Alabama)

After closing its doors 25 years ago, the Northport Boys & Girls Club in Alabama reopened in June and already has a waitlist for its summer programs. Families are eager to sign up for its afterschool program as well. “When you open something up like this, you think you know there’s a need and you think people are going to respond and then they respond overwhelmingly,” Kim Turner, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of West Alabama, told WBMA. "We can’t add onto a building tomorrow, by any means, but we are going to continue to partner with the city of Northport and partner with the communities in Northport and the schools to see how we can meet the needs of the kids in this community.”