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Weekly Media Roundup: July 18, 2018

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Weekly Media Roundup: July 18, 2018

Program connects young minds with learning at Boys & Girls Club (Lowell Sun, Massachusetts)

At a STEAM makerspace in Billerica, Mass., hands-on experiences with cutting-edge technology stimulate students’ love of learning. Created by the local Boys & Girls Club and supported by corporate technology donations, the STEAM Center gets its name from a popular acronym for curricula that combine science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Students discover these subjects by building everything from self-sustaining aquariums to analog analyzers. “It’s almost like they’re learning things, without knowing they’re learning,” program teacher Bobby Ackroyd told the Lowell Sun. “If a kid is doing something and then gaining an experience, then they’ll remember the scientific [principles] behind it.”

Grassroots program helps low-income, high-achieving Delaware students blossom (WHYY, Delaware)

In Wilmington, Del., a middle school teacher created an afterschool program to help his low-income, high-achieving students access top-quality high schools. Leading Youth through Empowerment, or LYTE, now aids 95 students across Wilmington schools with guidance on everything from preparing to take entrance exams to filling out financial aid forms. Ankur Arya was inspired to create the program because securing a scholarship to a top-tier high school made a big difference in his own life. The pathways to high school turn into pathways to college: A recent ceremony attended by Wilmington’s mayor celebrated the nearly $1 million in college scholarships and aid the program’s first high school graduates have qualified for. “We are so proud of those students,’’ Arya told WHYY.

At harbor island camp, teens train to be civic leaders (Boston Globe, Massachusetts)

In Boston, nearly 100 teens are spending their summers learning how to create change in their communities. Camp Harbor View added a civics course for its high schoolers who are training to mentor the camp’s 900 younger students. Students benefit from open discussion of social issues that affect their lives, including racism, classism, gun violence, and housing. Mayor Martin Walsh recently visited and led a discussion. “I know that how I was raised, and how a lot of these kids around camp are raised, they’re meant for greater things, and they’re meant for these types of movements,” 15-year-old trainee Laisha Pichardo told The Boston Globe.

Enabling young leaders: Waco's Freedom School grows, shows progress (Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas)

When Waco Mayor Kyle Deaver read a book about desegregation to more than 50 students attending Baylor’s Freedom School, he joined a national summer learning effort that emphasizes the connection between literacy and civic engagement. An initiative of the Children’s Defense Fund, summer “Freedom Schools” serve 160,000 students nationwide. By emphasizing culturally relevant literature and civic education, the programs aim to combat summer learning loss and inspire student confidence. It pays off: last year 97 percent of Baylor Freedom School students maintained or increased their reading abilities. Freedom School Executive Director Lakia Scott told The Waco Tribune she hopes students see “they’re not just children but they are change agents because of how smart they are and how much power they hold within themselves.”

Weekly Media Roundup: March 20, 2024

Matthew McConaughey and ASU Are Helping an Arizona School District. Here's How, Arizona Republic (Arizona) Matthew McConaughey and Arizona State University (ASU) have teamed up to help a Phoenix-area school district apply for federal afterschool funding included in the Bipartisan Safer...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      03/20/24

Weekly Media Roundup: March 13, 2024

English Learners Stopped Coming to Class During the Pandemic. One Group is Tackling the Problem By Helping Their Parents, Hechinger Report In North Carolina, nearly one third of English language learning students were chronically absent last year, a rate significantly higher than the...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      03/13/24

Weekly Media Roundup: March 6, 2024

Charlotte Afterschool Program Aims to Break Cycle of Youth Crime and Violence, WBTV (North Carolina) In response to the 33 percent rise in juvenile gun violence in Charlotte, North Carolina, county leaders presented The Way Forward plan to city council members this week. The plan includes...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      03/06/24

Weekly Media Roundup: February 28, 2024

Program Designed to Boost Reading Rates in NW Tallahassee is Reaching More Students, WTXL (Florida) At Springwood Elementary School’s afterschool program in Tallahassee, Florida, students are paired with volunteers from United Way’s ReadingPals program, working together to improve...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/28/24

Weekly Media Roundup: February 21, 2024

Missoula After-School Program for BIPOC Youth Creating Next Generation of Leaders, KTVQ-TV (Montana) At the Association for BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) Youth afterschool program in Missoula, Montana, students of color build community, take part in mindfulness activities, and develop...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/21/24

Weekly Media Roundup: February 14, 2024

Viewpoint: Invest in Out-of-School Programs to Help Solve State’s Educational Challenges, South Bend Tribune (Indiana) Indiana lawmakers are considering continuing the state’s pandemic-era investments in out-of-school time learning, including afterschool and summer learning programs....

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/14/24

Weekly Media Roundup: February 7, 2024

Rangers Star Welcomes Kids to the Ice in After School Program, NBC4 (New York) With help from a donation from the Garden of Dreams Foundation, 50 students in the WHEDco (Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation) afterschool program in the South Bronx are lacing up skates and...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      02/07/24

Weekly Media Roundup: January 31, 2024

Advocates of Afterschool Opportunities Rally in Albany for $119M Funding Boost, Spectrum News 1 (New York) On Tuesday, afterschool leaders, students, and lawmakers gathered in Albany, New York to press for an additional $119 million in state funding to ensure universal access to afterschool. At...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      01/31/24

Weekly Media Roundup: January 24, 2024

'Articulate Their Pain': Preventing Teen Suicide Through the Power of Music, Spectrum News 1 (North Carolina) DDAAT-App, a mental health nonprofit with an afterschool program in Charlotte, North Carolina, is partnering with The Bridge, a music studio, to give students access to recording...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      01/24/24

Weekly Media Roundup: January 17, 2024

Bessie Coleman After School Aviation Program to be Tested in Oklahoma, General Aviation News (Oklahoma) Sixth and 7th graders in Tulsa, Oklahoma are exploring careers in aerospace and aeronautics by building planes, flying drones, and participating in other hands-on projects thanks to a...

BY: Magen Eissenstat      01/17/24