Weekly Media Roundup - March 21, 2012

Not All Touchdowns Are on the Field (Indianapolis Star, Indiana)
Three days a week, a handful of players from Arsenal Tech High School in Indianapolis rotate among Schools 14, 15 and 54, acting as instructors in non-contact clinics for afterschool students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The program introduces children to football by teaching them basic, age-appropriate skills in a positive, energetic and structured environment. The high school mentors learn from USA Football program coordinators and are chosen because of their good grades and leadership abilities.

Scrabble Competition Draws Players to Drexel (Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania)
Philadelphia native John Green learned how to play Scrabble in prison, and since his release he’s been working with local schools and the After School Activities Partnerships (ASAP), an organization established to help children stay productive in the hours directly after school. Last week, ASAP's Philly Plays Scrabble program hosted a free Scrabble event at Drexel University's Bossone Center and Green was there to offer help and a friendly game for any of the 100 Scrabble enthusiasts who showed up and thought they could hack it against a professional, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “Scrabble is great because it teaches you word knowledge, strategy, and camaraderie,” he said. “Scrabble pulls the kids together and increases their reading and spelling skills.”

Former Detective Chief Stresses Mentoring (Port St. Lucie News, Florida)
Lifelong St. Lucie County resident and former Chief of Detectives Pat Duval talked to the Port St. Lucie News about a different approach to crime after a recent near-fatal shooting and a number of assaults in his area. He said he would like to see programs set up after school that involve mentoring the children. Duval’s neighbor Joe Jenkins has secured a location for a neighborhood afterschool program and is looking for funding.

Youngsters Focus on Movie Making (Chicago Tribune, Illinois)
Computer Explorers conducts movie-making programs for kids in classrooms and rec centers throughout Chicago’s suburbs. The group also hosts Claymation classes in which students sculpt their own actor, a robotics program in which they erect the characters and classes with Hollywood-based mysteries. “During the last installment of ‘Lights, Camera, Action’ in LaGrange, the students finalized their films, typing the credits and saving the files to flash drives as moms and dads came to pick them up,” the Chicago Tribune reports.