Weekly Media Roundup: June 12, 2019

From Refugee Camp to Her Own Classroom, Somali Immigrant Aspires to Teach Syracuse Refugee Children, WAER (New York)

When Hamdi Farah’s family relocated to the United States from a Kenyan refugee camp several years ago, the North Side Learning Center afterschool program in Syracuse, New York, was a safe place to practice English, learn leadership skills and develop relationships with other immigrant and refugee students. Today, she studies at a local community college and serves as the lead middle school teacher for girls in the program. The afterschool program includes math, reading and writing activities, homework help, and journaling. “I started working here, and it’s like, you know, you can do this,” Farah told WAER. “Maybe [my] becoming a teacher will help them set goals that they are scared … to set, maybe dream about dreams that they’re … scared about dreaming.”

Young Drone Pilots Put Their Skills to the Test, KCTV News 5 (Kansas)

In the MINDDRIVE afterschool program in Kansas City, Missouri, high school students code, solder, and pilot drones; use power tools to learn about automotive technology; and more. The program uses hands-on projects to spark students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). In addition to teaching technical skills, program mentors instill life skills and confidence in students. “Here at MINDDRIVE, they let you know you actually can be somebody,” MINDDRIVE Student President Tyrell Woodard told KCTV News 5.

After-School Programs Teach Children Strategies to Avoid Bullying, WMUR 9 (New Hampshire)

The Concord Boys and Girls Club afterschool program in New Hampshire uses a variety of tools to teach students social and emotional skills and to combat bullying. Staff mentor children, with the goal of “helping them become self-regulated mini-adults,” Senior Program Director Rachael Cahn told WMUR 9. When bullying does occur, the bullying child gets “a write-up and a day off,” and upon returning takes part in a discussion aimed at extracting lessons from the incident, she said. In addition, children run clubs and take responsibility for specific jobs in order to learn leadership skills, which help them stand up for their peers. “There has to be someone to step up and be a leader and … take pride into that,” fifth-grader Marcus Day told WMUR 9. “[The afterschool program] teaches me how to take care of other people and take responsibility.”

Students Learn the Importance of Family with Pottery, NBC 12 (Virginia)

Students in an afterschool program facilitated by Art 180 and NextUp RVA in Richmond, Virginia, recently designed and created their own tableware out of clay. The session included a discussion of the benefits of eating meals with one’s family and the importance of maintaining healthy habits. The afterschool program exposes students to a variety of artistic mediums to develop their creativity and help them explore emotions. “It’s real fun,” seventh-grader Omar Murrell told NBC 12. “We draw, we paint, we craft different things, we’re making clothes, we do a bunch of different things.”