Weekly Media Roundup: February 12, 2025

'He Invests His Own Money': After School Program Started by Pasco School Employee Still Going Strong, WFTS-TV (Florida)

In the 1980s, Eugene Scott founded an afterschool program called This Is How We Do It to provide food, music, dance, mentorship and more to students in his Pasco County community. Today, the afterschool program continues to serve a diverse group of students at the old Booker T. Washington school, which was Pasco County’s first African American School.  Scott, a longtime worker at the maintenance department of the Pasco County School District, “invests not only time. He invests his own money. Often, he feeds these children out of his pocket,” volunteer Chonita Williams told WFTS-TV.

How Some Low-Income NJ School Districts Overcame Pandemic Slump, NJ Spotlight News (New Jersey)

While New Jersey students continue to perform below the math and reading levels reported in 2019 on average, nine low-income communities in the state surpassed the pre-pandemic achievement levels, a recent Education Recovery Scorecard survey found. Researchers attributed this success to federally funded supports including tutoring, before-school, afterschool and summer learning programs. “On average it looks like the [federal pandemic relief] dollars did have an effect, and they particularly helped narrow the gaps or prevented the gaps from being even worse between high and low-income districts,” Harvard University researcher Thomas Kane told NJ Spotlight News.

How Travis Heights Elementary is Introducing VR into an After-School Fitness Program, Austin American-Statesman (Texas)

Students in the Austin Independent School District’s Prime Time afterschool program are taking boxing, dancing, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and other fitness classes using virtual reality (VR) headsets donated by FitXR. The VR application incorporates fun games, such as dodging balloons, to engage students. “I'm having fun just teaching them about being healthy and exercising,” Travis Heights Elementary physical education teacher Dana Kreytak told the Austin-American Statesman.  “Kids love VR and video games, so I feel like it's super fun to combine that. It's fun and new and different, something that a lot of them have never done before.”

Youth & Family: Enriching Minds — After-School Programs Boost Student Success, Rutland Herald (Vermont)

In Rutland County, Vermont, the Boys & Girls Club provides tutoring, cooking classes, sports, video gaming, arts and more at each of its 14 afterschool program sites and has seen positive results in its annual survey. “Our priority outcomes at the Boys & Girls Club include academic success, good character and citizenship and a healthy lifestyle for all youth,” area director Emily Whitaker told the Rutland Herald. “Enrichment clubs allow us to provide opportunities to meet these outcomes while the youth are having fun.”