Weekly Media Roundup - June 19, 2013

“A successful after-school program that stopped running recently after 16 years may soon serve the children of Hesperia again,” the Daily Press reports. The Hesperia Recreation and Park District’s board agreed to reinstate the long-running afterschool program last week. The program was eliminated for the 2011-12 school year after state education standards prohibited the park district to partner with the school district.

 

Leesburg area middle and high school students are spending their summer teaching rising fourth and fifth graders about career and life opportunities that exist in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The students are taking part in NASA’s Summer of Innovation, and organizers expect about 130 elementary students to participate in the summer learning program. Students will learn about aeronautics, robotics, the solar system and life sciences. 

 

Earlier this week at a county education summit, Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams said he is looking to double access to afterschool programs in the county. The education summit gathered community, school and government leaders to network and brainstorm about high quality preschool and afterschool programs for low-income and at-risk students. The Deseret News reports that “McAdams said his goal in hosting the education summit was to facilitate dialogue between the various educational entities and service organizations in the county.”

 

The Janesville School District expanded its summer meals program, serving 75,000 meals (breakfast and lunch) this summer, up from 57,000 last summer and 20,000 the summer before. This year the program will continue to serve meals into August and past the end of summer school in July. Jim Degan, the district’s food services and nutrition manager, told the Walworth County Today that he was happy to expand the program to meet the needs of the community. “I wish we were in a society where children would not miss meals and not go hungry, but that’s not the way of the world,” he said.