Weekly Media Roundup: June 6, 2018

Gwinnett Mom’s Programming Venture Gives Kids A Code for Fun (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia)

After noticing the lack of STEM-related education programs in her children’s school, Nidhi Jain, a skilled programmer, decided to take matters into her own hands. Using a free Georgia Tech-developed computer program called Scratch, she developed her own afterschool program, WhizLearning Kids, to teach children in the neighborhood to code for themselves. Jain also developed a summer program and even a coding competition to go with the STEM-based program. Lily Mahan, a student in the program, told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution about her newfound love for coding: “This is what I want to do when I grow up.”

How an Old Murfreesboro City Schools Bus Became A Library on Wheels (Daily News Journal, Tennessee)

After retiring an old school bus last year, the Murfreesboro school district decided to convert it into a mobile library, aptly named Books on a Bus. The WiFi-equipped bus boasts more than 1,000 books donated by schools in the area and will visit local hotspots throughout the summer. Children will be able to read the books while the bus is nearby, temporarily check out a book, and even take some home to keep. The school district hopes the bus will help stem the tide of summer learning loss, according to the Daily News Journal.

Learning the Alpha Bravo Charlies of Aviation (The Daily Independent, Kentucky)

In the Project Ignite summer learning camp at Ashland Middle School, the school district’s STEM teachers use fun activities and simulations to teach children about aviation. The children participate in activities that put STEM concepts they had learned during the school year into motion, building water-powered rockets, making paper airplanes, and even trying a flight simulator. But most of all, as STEM teacher Shelly Osborne told the Daily Independent, “The kids love STEM. I?have kids stop me in the hallway and ask me when’s my next STEM class.”

Meet the Olympian Bringing Table Tennis to Freehold (Asbury Park Press, New Jersey)

Two-time U.S. Olympic table tennis player Lily Yip saw an opportunity to introduce table tennis to Freehold students through the Freehold Borough School District’s 21st Century Community Learning Center afterschool program. With only a few tables already available to the program and a couple of high school volunteers, Yip spent weeks teaching students the basics of table tennis in afterschool practice sessions. “It's really fun and exciting, and they teach you a lot more here than hitting the ball around,” Maisy Faccone, a sixth grader, told the Asbury Park Press.