Weekly Media Roundup: December 4, 2024

New Program Helps Connect Older Kids to Valuable Activities, Pigeon 605 (South Dakota)

Through Sioux Falls Thrive’s new Youth Connect website, parents can explore afterschool programs available in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  “Our goal is to make it super-easy for families, kids and counselors and everybody to access that information quickly,” Michelle Erpenbach, Sioux Falls Thrive’s president, told Pigeon 605. “There are tons of things for kids to do in this town, but how do you figure out what they are? These will be enrichment activities, learning about themselves as an individual, and arts and science, and all those sorts of things.” The website focuses on programs for middle school and high school students.

Books-A-Million Hosts Book Drive to Stock Library for the Salvation Army of Beckley, WVNS (West Virginia)

In Beckley, West Virginia, the local Books-A-Million store is hoping to help build a substantial library at the Salvation Army’s new afterschool program by hosting a book drive. “It’s an affordable after school program, and we’re helping to stock their library,” Books-A-Million assistant manager Scott Holley told WVNS. “We just started a few months ago and we’re doing well with it. We’ve already made several deliveries.”

Robotics Club Aims to Give Disadvantaged Students in Clairton New Experiences, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)

In the Afterschool Alliance’s America After 3PM household survey in 2021, low-income families reported having much less access to afterschool STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning than higher-income families. Programs such as the robotics club at Clairton Middle/High School in Pittsburgh are working to bridge the gap. “The people I’ve met in this program have been really interesting, and we got to build and learn new things. It’s an amazing, safe place to be,” eighth grade student Abbigail Grimes told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Advocates hope that Pennsylvania’s new $11.5 million Building Opportunity through Out-of-School Time (BOOST) initiative will help promote equity in STEM education after school.

Community Effort Resurrects After-School Program in Jaffrey, The Laconia Daily Sun (New Hampshire)

When a popular afterschool program in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, closed its doors several years ago, the loss was “felt by everyone,” Jaffrey Town Manager Jon Frederick told the Laconia Daily Sun. This year, the Town of Jaffrey, the Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District, the Jaffrey Community Center, and the Jaffrey-Rindge Rotary Club came together to open a new quality afterschool program to support working parents and provide engaging opportunities for students. “That’s what it is – it takes a community, and several arms coming together that make it work. No one group could have done it on their own,” said Brenda Starr, the new program’s coordinator.