Sean C. Morgan
Editor’s note: This is the third of a series of articles focusing on efforts by local organizations to provide Friday activities to keep youngsters active due to Sweet Home’s four-day school week.
The Boys and Girls Club is working to provide a fun way to keep the educational process flowing on Fridays this school year.
Sweet Home students attend school four days a week this year, typically with Fridays off. Organizations around the community are providing a variety of activities for them.
“I’m really, really excited about it,” said Andi Casteel, director. The club is calling its Friday program “FLASH,” Friday Learning Academies in Sweet Home.
“My vision – this started way back a long time ago – was what could we offer kids to supplement their needs on Fridays,” Casteel said.
The club will have drama, and in the new year, it’ll have music too, she said. Breakfast and lunch are free, and students can get help with their homework. They’ll also participate in classes on technology and science with certified teachers.
Certified teachers will provide help in junior high and high school math, and they’ll provide PE classes.
The morning session, from 7 a.m. to noon, costs $5 and is highly structured. Afterward the club is open to members, and math tutoring will be available.
“It was really important to me to have the junior high and high school math tutors available in the afternoon, so they’re available to everyone,” Casteel said.
School District 55 Supt. Don Schrader has agreed to allow teachers to volunteer for a couple of hours as tutors during their in-service time on Fridays, Casteel said. Schrader also volunteered, teaching a science class on the program’s first Friday. Teaching assistants also will spend time tutoring.
On days the club doesn’t focus on math, it will focus on technology, Casteel said. Most students know how to do the things they like to do with computers, but they often don’t really know much about them or how to use them. The club will teach them how to use a computer as a tool. Eventually, she would like to build Lego robots.
Casteel said the club has a drama major to teach drama, and she is working on bringing in a music teacher.
“I expect it to be a quality program,” she said. “I really believe everything we do will be quality. We’re basically working hand in hand with the school district.”
None of the tutoring staff is required to do it, she said. They’ll be there because they want to be. She said that last week Lisa Canaday, a math teacher from the junior high, volunteered after school to tutor children.
It’ll let them do fun things they might not be able to do with their classes during school, she said. That will make the lessons exciting for the students.
“It’s still science,” Casteel said. “It’s still learning. We’re doing it to help our kids so they can become responsible citizens. In the long run, we’d like it to pay off economically in our community. This is where we’re going to start, but we definitely want to go bigger and better.”
For more information, contact the club at (541) 367-6421.