Weekly Media Roundup - November 19, 2014

Mentoring Program Opens at Church: Location Is Newest of Five Sites in Fallbrook Where Kids Attend After-School Sessions (San Diego Union-Tribune, California)

Thanks to a $6,000 donation, the GANAS (Guide, Advise, Nurture and Support) mentoring program opened a fifth site last month at the St. John’s Episcopal Church in San Diego, CA.  At GANAS, youth aged 9 to 14 can participate in afterschool activities led by trained mentors and local high school students, who serve as positive role models and help steer youth away from gangs and drugs.  The program provides snacks and encourages children to share news of the day and play brain games.  Pat Braendel, the program’s founder, told San Diego Union-Tribune, “The program develops critical thinking and leadership skills that help kids build confidence and healthy, balanced minds and bodies.”

In Englewood, New Program Puts Greater Emphasis on Black History (Northern Valley Suburbanite, New Jersey)

Vanisha Williams attributes her confidence and sense of pride to an African-American studies class she took in college.  Hoping to pass on this eye-opening experience to younger students, Williams began an afterschool program called “Sons of Sankofa” to teach seventh through twelfth grade students about black history, hopefully giving them pride and a sense of self in their community.  In the Akan language of Ghana, “Sankofa” translates roughly to “reach back and get it.”  “It’s about taking what’s good in the past and bringing it to the present for positive progress,” Williams told Northern Valley Suburbanite.  “I feel that’s necessary for any success.” Sons of Sankofa will incorporate technology and social media to better engage students as they learn.

Elementary School Students Explore How Water Works (Montrose Daily Press, Colorado)

Last week, Montrose, CO area elementary school students, with the help of park rangers, worked on hands-on projects to learn about the Colorado River system at their 21st Century Community Learning Center afterschool program.  Students built a replication of the river system and subjected a model town to pollution and precipitation to demonstrate effects on the watershed.  Teachers at the Montrose Elementary After-School Program have planned many other unique and highly creative projects for students, with titles like “Boredom Blasters” and “European Escapades.” “The growth and the quality that we’ve been able to build and establish, and… the amount of children we have every day in our program is amazing,” Director Erica Jiron told the Montrose Daily Press.

Clairton Kids Learn Healthy Snacking in CASTLE Class (The Daily News, Pennsylvania)

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative encourages chefs to visit schools and educate children on healthy snack options.  In that spirit, Duquesne University Executive Sous Chef Zachary Puhala recently taught fifth and sixth-graders in CASTLE—Clairton’s After-School Teaching & Learning Experience—how to make hummus and applesauce.  Puhala believes the key to getting children to eat healthier is getting them engaged in cooking and finding ways to make nutrition fun – in this case, by letting them crush chickpeas and mash apples to make healthy snacks. CASTLE program coordinator Greg Spotti hopes the students will apply what they’ve learned at home, thereby promoting healthy eating in their communities. “It's not something that has to be done at school,” he told The Daily News. “They can take this learning and share with their family and pretty much everybody else.”