Weekly Media Roundup: September 2, 2020

Horizons at Home Summer Learning Very Different than Traditional Horizons’ Summers, WITN-TV (North Carolina)

This summer, more than 50 students in Greenville, North Carolina played music and danced, explored mindfulness strategies for coping with overwhelming emotions, completed science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) projects and more through Horizons at Home, a virtual summer learning program. The program supported students emotionally while helping them maintain academic skills through more than 120 reading and math lessons throughout the summer. “In addition to feeding the mind, Horizons also physically fed summer participants fruits and veggies, as well as water and apple juice, distributed throughout the summer to help families with summer hunger needs,” WITN-TV reported.

LESSONS LEARNED: Keeping Children Safe from COVID-19 After School, CBS 19 (Texas)

After successfully facilitating eight weeks of safe, academically enriching programming this summer, Mentoring Alliance After School in Tyler, Texas will offer an in-person afterschool program this fall where students can get academic support and explore their interests. The program is taking extensive COVID-19 precautions including masks, maintaining small cohorts of students, daily temperature checks and more. The program connects students with mentors who help grow their confidence and character, as well as providing fun, engaging activities. “I really think those students who are registered this year will be those students who are in school because their parents have to go to work…. When we say we are going to walk alongside with these families, not even COVID can change that,” Vice President of Community Engagement Suzette Farr told CBS 19.

ProYouth Expands from Afterschool Program to All-Day Camp, The Sun Gazette (California)

For nearly 30 years, ProYouth has offered robust afterschool programs to students in Tulare County, California. This fall, as schools reopen virtually, ProYouth has adapted to offer programming for more than 300 students from 8am to 6pm each day at 10 sites with strict social distancing and safety measures in place. During the day, students will do distance learning with help from ProYouth staff. After school, students will explore computer science, agriculture, art, health science and more in the afterschool program. “We know how to do programs and we know how to do camp…. We also know our parents are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They have to work and their kids are at home trying to do distance learning. We want to be a service to help our students be successful in school and for our parents to know their kids are in a safe place,” Executive Director Marie Pinto told the Sun Gazette.

Seabrook’s SAZ to Offer Mix of In-Person, Virtual Afterschool Programs, Seacoast Online (New Hampshire)

To support students and keep them safe during the pandemic, the Seabrook Adventure Zone (SAZ) in Seabrook, New Hampshire will offer free outdoor afterschool programs this fall. SAZ will also continue its live, virtual afterschool program, which includes tutorials for activities, family self-care ideas and more. Finally, SAZ will offer Off-Campus Adventures in which students will “travel to a state park or outdoor adventure area for the afternoon,” Forrest E. Carter, Jr., program director for SAZ and an Afterschool Ambassador for the Afterschool Alliance, told Seacoast Online