Weekly Media Roundup: November 9, 2022

Aldo Leopold Nature Center Reaches Out with After-School Program, Wisconsin State Journal (Wisconsin)

Elementary school students in Monona, Wisconsin are enjoying long hikes, clearing woods for outdoor classrooms and building large wooden forts, thanks to a new afterschool program at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. The center established the program to address the need for more equitable and inclusive programs for low-income students. “We aim to provide access to students who have historically been left out of nature-based opportunities, as well as focus on providing care for families who need five day per week afterschool support due to work schedules,” Melissa Salisbury, the center’s program impact and inclusion manager, told the Wisconsin State Journal. In addition to offering financial assistance, the center also provides transportation from two partnering elementary schools.

High Need Prompts Bolivar Church to Start After-School Program, OzarksFirst (Missouri)

In response to the unmet demand for afterschool programs in their rural community, the Heights Church in Bolivar, Missouri is renovating its facility so it can offer an afterschool program for elementary and middle school students. “I think the bigger issue for a lot of families is the lack of resources in smaller communities,” Matt Bunn, pastor at the Heights Church, told OzarksFirst. “It’s a lot of work to put on an afterschool program. It’s expensive, takes a lot of different resources.” The program will provide tutoring, mentoring and healthy snacks and will include transportation from local schools.

B.R. Ryall YMCA partners with Alive Center to Bring Teen After-School Program to Glen Ellyn, Daily Herald (Illinois)

Using a ‘teen-led, teen-driven’ model focused on mentorship, healthy recreation, and leadership opportunities, the Alive Center in DuPage County, Illinois will partner with the B.R. Ryall YMCA of Northwestern DuPage County to create an afterschool program designed to support teen’s mental health. “We are really excited to bring our proven model of engaging with teens to the B.R. Ryall YMCA. We find ourselves in the middle of a youth mental health crisis,” Alive Center founder and CEO Kandice Henning told the Daily Herald. “The partnership with the YMCA aligns with the Alive Center's desire to leverage its model to benefit more youth in areas beyond its current coverage of Naperville, Aurora and Hanover Park."

Hillcrest Junior High Students Connect with Teachers, Peers through After-School Program, The City Journals (Utah)

Whether they’re learning how to ride a bike, writing fiction, building social-emotional skills by playing Dungeons & Dragons, or exploring math concepts not taught in class in the Math Olympiad, students in Hillcrest Junior High’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers program are discovering their passions and developing new skills. The free program also includes academic support from the school’s teachers and a sack dinner. “I think the after-school program is creating a safe place where they can meet together and hang out and get to do experiences like this with friends,” teacher Jen Allred-Salvesen told the Murray Journal. “This is a healthy way of being able to grow and learn and be with each other in positive ways. It builds community in our school.”