After School Club

“I’m happy I get to stay at school after school ends,” said Jose, a second grader at Bridger elementary. Both of his parents work until 5:30 P.M. so Jose has nowhere to go after the final bell rings at 3:30. Even with their heavy workload his parents do not make enough money to allow him to participate in extracurricular activities, and he needs a fee waiver to participate in many school activities.
Many children in Cache Valley share a similar story. Fortunately these children have a place to go to keep them off the streets and which allows them to participate in healthy, positive activities.
After School Club (ASC) is part of Alliance for Youth, a local group which also includes Boys and Girls Club, Logan School District and 4-H. Alliance for Youth is dedicated to uniting sources and the community to help the youth of Cache County.
According to recent polls, about 1.2 million teenagers drop out of high school every year in the U.S. Although this number has been declining slowly, the rate of Hispanic American drop-outs is, and always has been, much higher than that of Caucasians. At Bridger Elementary School in the west end of Logan, for example 52% of the students are Hispanic Americans, 87% of students in ASC are Hispanic Americans.
One of the main reasons, experts say, is that Hispanic children with immigrant parents come from low income homes. The parents of these children work longer hours, which means less time for them to be home teaching their children important social and creative skills, and helping them with their homework assignments.
After School Club is a program dedicated to reversing this trend. The program accomplishes this goal by helping the children understand the importance of school and their own capability. The leaders are there Monday through Friday from the end of school until 5:30 P.M. working hard to create a positive learning and skill building environment to build the base the children need to be successful in the rest of their lives.
Katrina Barker, the site coordinator at Bridger Elementary said, “After School Club gives the children a positive place to be.” She described it as “a place where the children can have fun, stimulation, safety and good role models.”
ASC focuses on the three main rules: be safe, be respectful, be successful. These are implemented in each of the activities done daily.
The program offers a 50 minute “Learning Center” at the beginning of each day. During this time, the children have 20 minutes to read and 30 minutes to do their homework. Each learning center is divided into grades with at least two ASC leaders working with each grade to help the children with their homework, particularly their math and reading skills.
Jesus, a fifth grader in ASC, said, “Homework time is my favorite because it gives me time to do my homework and I really appreciate that because I haven’t missed any assignments this year.”
Barker said, “We provide an opportunity to get homework done which isn’t always a priority with their parents because of their work.”
Each Monday there is an enrichment activity. During this time the leaders teach meaningful lessons, such as teamwork, communication, drug awareness and service, using hands-on activities. For example, Jenessa Talbot, a leader at Bridger, had the children tie quilts to send to the Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency for the children there. The children were really excited to donate the quilts they had tied. Graycie, a second grader said, “It made me feel really good to give the quilts to other kids. I really hope they like them.”
Carlos Linares, the parent of a first grader in ASC, said the program has helped his daughter with her communication and cooperation skills. He said, “She has been a little bit difficult to work with, but I have noticed that ASC has helped her make a lot of progress.”
Tracey, a fifth grader in ASC, says the Monday enrichment activities have helped her “learn more about distraction and not being a bully and not being a bad student.”
Tuesday through Thursday is dedicated to giving the children time to work on important skills. Each leader plans a two week “club inside the club” to teach new skills like different sports or health. Each child can choose which club they want to join.
Danielle Hunt’s club for the month of November is a science club she calls “Potions.” Each day she does a different science experiment to show the children how different chemicals react to each other.
Moises, a third grader, said, “I’ve learned a lot of things in clubs that I used at home.” The example he used was making slime out of water, glue, and borax to play with (from Hunt’s club).
According to recent studies, programs like this give children a better chance to graduate high school and get a substantial job when they’re older.
By building this base of new and different skills, the children that participate are put at lower risk than others to drop out of school.
“Hopefully the children come away with more self confidence and a better understanding of their potential,” Said Barker.