Weekly Media Roundup: January 10, 2024

Glendale Middle School Coach Who Inspires All Gifted With Dream Team Surprise, Fox 13 (Utah)

This week, Fox 13’s “Dream Team” in Salt Lake City surprised Glendale Middle School physical education teacher, coach and afterschool program director Lucas Tucker at a school assembly with a gift card, a backpack and $1,000 for afterschool programming. Tucker, who has taught at Glendale Middle school for a decade, created the afterschool program to provide a safe place for students to explore their interests and connect with mentors. Activities range from sports to cooking classes. “I like that he’s nice and he really does care about our safety and that we eat after school, and that we have fun,” student Valerie Morales told Fox 13.

After School Program in Elyria Saves Children's Lives, Encourages Educational Success, ABC News 5 (Ohio)

For the past 40 years, the Save Our Children of Elryia afterschool program has provided academic and emotional support to students in Elyria, Ohio. “Having a place where children know they can come every day, get a hot meal, every day get help with homework, every day have some type of enjoyable programming and then be around friends, you can’t duplicate that,” former NFL player and current Save Our Children of Elryia Executive Director Chase Farris told ABC News 5. “For some of these kids—it means the world to know they have an adult in their life that will go to bat for them no matter what.” The program outgrew its original location, Asbury United Methodist Church and is looking to expand due to the ever-growing need in the community.

Students in Coalinga-Huron Unified School District Take Part in Winter Learning Programs, KFSN (California)

At Bishop Elementary School in Fresno, California, students in kindergarten through eighth grade had the opportunity to participate in enriching and engaging activities throughout winter break, including robotics classes, music, Spanish lessons, and field trips to science labs and theaters. “What we try to do is get an array of different vendors that can provide students different opportunities that they wouldn’t be able to do during after school during the year just due to the time frame,” Titus Karvon, Program Coordinator for the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, told KFSN. The free full-day winter learning program was supported by California’s Expanded Learning Opportunities Program.

Afterschool Programs Playing a Part in Childcare Shortage, Kentucky Edition/PBS (Kentucky)

According to a new report from the Kentucky Out-of-School Alliance, the number of students who are without access to afterschool programs in the state is above the national average, and the shortage of affordable and accessible afterschool programs is particularly severe in rural communities. “I think underserved students who live in rural communities are just not having the same opportunities as their peers… Increasingly, we also see the correlation [with] low workforce participation in a lot of our rural communities,” Kentucky Out-of-School Alliance Director and Afterschool Alliance Afterschool Ambassador Tom Haggard told Kentucky Edition. Advocates say more funding is needed and that the needs of school-aged children should be considered in conversations about the state’s child care crisis.