Cool at school

Sarah Lynch/The Independent

Ashland September 07, 2006 11:28 pm

— Just because the bell rings at 3 p.m. doesn’t mean learning time is over. At least not at three local schools providing after-school programs for their students.
The 21st Century Learning Center’s Cool Camp at Hatcher and Crabbe elementaries and the After Hours program at Verity Middle School extend the school day to 6 p.m.
The after-school hours are not without a time for play and fun, but education is the focus.
“At Crabbe and other schools with children whose parents are both working or are single, the structured environment this program provides is a necessity,” said Steve Hall, principal at Crabbe.
“Cool Camp has been a very successful program that not only provides attending children one-on-one help with homework, but also enrichment activities, which are often very difficult to include in a regular school day,” Hall said.
At the elementary schools, students are given nutritional snacks and do homework from 3 to 4 p.m. Volunteers and program staff members help the students with questions or problems they may have with the work or personal issues.
From 4 to 5 p.m., students participate in enrichment activities. Depending on the day, these activities could be board games, story time at the Boyd County Public Library, arts and crafts, quilting, Ultimate Frisbee, the Girls’ Club or Girl Scouts.
“We also have the Cool Camp Twirlers,” said Rose-Linda Stafford. “It’s a baton twirling class that has become a staple in the program because the kids love it so much.”
Stafford is the site manager for the programs at Crabbe and Verity as well as the after-school program at Debord Terrace. Her office is stacked with items for Cool Camp — from children’s movies and games to art supplies and athletic equipment.
“This after-school program started with President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act. Funding, which used to be provided by a federal grant, is now provided by a state grant,” she said.
“If the No Child Left Behind Act were fully funded, Kentucky communities would have double the number of after-school programs, giving 35,571 children a safe place to go after school.”
The program not only provides a safe place but a laid-back atmosphere and “an open line of communication,” Stafford said.
“I’m down in the floor playing games with these kids. I have my expectations of them, but I also try to make it a comfortable environment so they have no hesitation to talk to me and say ‘Hey, this is what’s going on in my life’ or ‘These are the problems I’m having in school or at home,’” she said.
Stafford is also in charge of recruiting volunteers and employing staff members.
“I would definitely say that it takes the effort of the entire community to make this program work,” she said. “More volunteers would be fabulous.”
Stafford recently hired Allyson Dodd, a fine-arts major at Marshall University, to teach enrichment classes.
On Tuesday afternoon the college student spent time reviewing definitions and the principles of art before teaching her first art class at Crabbe.
“I’m going to ask them to draw pictures of themselves to teach them self-expression and to get them to start talking about their artwork.”
Dodd, whose art emphasis is in ceramics, said it felt unusual to “flip roles” from student to teacher.
“This experience will be beneficial to my future as an artist,” she said. “Many artists choose to teach and I know, somewhere along the way, that will be my career.”
The student believes it’s important to integrate life skills into education.
“I hope this after-school program will show these kids that learning really can be fun,” Dodd said.
David Greene, principal at Hatcher and director of the program, said Cool Camp has a dual purpose.
“It provides students with extra time to achieve success in core content material with the aid of qualified instructors,” Greene said. “And it allows them to participate in many activities they wouldn’t get to do otherwise.”
Besides what the program does for students, Greene said it also helps build a relationship between the community and its schools.
“Not only would this program not be possible without the help of Rose-Linda Stafford and Hatcher’s site manager, Patty Halterman, it would not be possible without the volunteers, community members and students who give of their time to help these kids get a better education and maybe even some much-needed TLC,” Greene said.
SARAH LYNCH can be reached at slynch@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2650.