Weekly Media Roundup: January 27, 2021

MSCR Cares Program at Henderson Elementary Supports Students Indoors and Out, Wisconsin State Journal (Wisconsin)

At Madison School and Community Recreation Cares sites in Madison, Wisconsin, about 650 elementary students spend their mornings doing remote learning with the support of trained staff, and their afternoons exploring visual arts and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The program received a grant to purchase winter clothing for the children so they could also enjoy outdoor activities, such as sledding on a nearby hill. “Kids are happy because they get to be around people and their friends,” Director Megan Woodward told the Wisconsin State Journal. “It has made me glad we are able to serve families.”

Starks Academy After School Program Provides Homework Help, Place to Play During Pandemic, Fox 21 (Minnesota)

Each day after school, elementary students in Duluth, Minnesota can get help with schoolwork from tutors and local high schoolers, eat a snack, and stay physically active through games in the gym in the Seal the Cracks afterschool program. Seal the Cracks provides a safe, socially distanced environment where students can get the emotional and academic support they need during the pandemic. “I had no less than four parents on the first day tell me that this is the first time they’ve seen their kid smile,” Founder Dyami Starks told Fox 21. “These kids were at home handling their work and they’re doing it all alone with no WiFi or no equipment no laptop and really no help.”

Hannaford Donates $75K to Support Full-Day and Afterschool Programs for NH Families, Manchester Ink Link (New Hampshire)

Thanks to a grant from the grocery store chain Hannaford, the Seabrook Adventure Zone, a 21st Century Community Learning Center in Seabrook, New Hampshire, will purchase equipment to introduce students to outdoor activities including paddle boarding, archery, snowshoeing, kayaking, fishing and more. The grant is part of $75,000 in funding Hannaford recently awarded to help afterschool programs in New Hampshire support children and families with robust programming and full-day remote learning sites. “We would not be able to facilitate the outdoor adventure programming this year without [Hannaford’s] support and partnership,” Forrest E. Carter Jr, program director for Seabrook Adventure Zone and an ambassador for the Afterschool Alliance, told the Manchester Ink Link.

Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg, Parkersburg Art Center Providing Supplies for Children, WTAP-TV (West Virginia)

The Parkersburg Art Center provides high-quality arts education to students at the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg’s afterschool program in West Virginia. During the pandemic, the Art Center has developed kits with supplies and instructions for projects ranging from foil sculptures to coffee paintings that children can complete at in-person programs or at home. “The afterschool instructors like them a lot because they’re helping kids with homework and doing other activities, so trying to plan for artful things in addition to that can be difficult. It’s very nice for them to have something creative to give the students,” Jessie Siefert, managing director and education director for the Art Center, told WTAP-TV.