After-school youth program coming to Indian Creek
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MINGO JUNCTION -- A special collaboration between the Sycamore Youth Center and Indian Creek Middle School will bring life skills development to kids after school, individuals involved said Wednesday.
The ICMS Sycamore Stars program will provide Indian Creek and Jefferson County Christian School students between fifth and eighth grade with the Sycamore Center's unique life skills lessons alongside a meal, tutoring and academic classes, said Indian Creek Principal Holly Minch-Hick. Lessons on various subjects will include cooking, theater, virtual reality, STEM and more.
Indian Creek teachers will provide the academic classes and tutoring, while Bobbyjon Bauman, executive director of the Sycamore Youth Center, will bring in life skills specialists for the various lessons.
"It's like a satellite of the Sycamore program, but it's based out of Indian Creek Middle School," Bauman said. "We're working together. It's their kids, their teachers."
The program's after-school learning opportunity will provide a more experiential learning environment for kids, Minch-Hick said, something not fully attainable during a typical school day.
"There's so much they can learn and make associations with," said Minch-Hick, who holds a doctorate degree in educational leadership. "What I've found is that so many of our kids are lacking experience, experiences in adult interaction and adult guidance.
"(Sycamore Stars) is such a great opportunity for our kids to have some positive role models after a regular school day -- we know that they're positive role models because they're our staff and they're Sycamore staff."
Scheduled to begin on Oct. 16 and end on April 12, the program will begin after school lets out from Monday through Thursday. The objective, Minch-Hick said, is to extend the pickup time to 5:15 p.m., in time for working parents to pick up their kids, as an alternative to after-school childcare.
"We have many kids that go home to empty homes," said Minch-Hick, who has served as the Indian Creek Middle principal for 10 years. "Their parents are working; they need to work to make ends meet. Why not provide an opportunity for kids to be engaged in meaningful activities and learning after school?
"(With Sycamore Stars,) we know that our kids aren't going home and waiting for their parents to get home from work unsupervised. The academic and the life skills components are just wonderful opportunities for these kids to grow."
Minch-Hick, said the school's kids have had a high interest in the Sycamore Youth Center's programs, sparking a need for expansion.
Sycamore Stars' logistics are still in the works, but the goal is to begin with the meal and then continue on to the academic classes, tutoring and life skills lesson. The meal will be provided by Indian Creek's school food service department, run by the Nutrition Group.
Minch-Hick, said the school's kids have had a high interest in the Sycamore Youth Center's programs, sparking a need for expansion.
Bauman said the Sycamore Center is entering its seventh year in downtown Steubenville serving youth. Bauman's own connection with Indian Creek spans about nine years, having served as a substitute teacher at the school, bringing various speakers in to "build up and encourage the kids to be better people" and establishing a student-led FCA program.
Two or three years ago, Bauman said, he began transporting kids from Indian Creek to the Sycamore Youth Center for activities. Transporting those kids was a logistical challenge, with buses only available one day a week.
"It had been a dream of mine to service the kids here at Indian Creek Middle School with a different program than we have at Sycamore," said Bauman, a licensed teacher in Ohio.
A breakthrough occurred when Bauman was able to secure the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, which he had been striving to get for five years. The idea for the Sycamore Stars program began broad, with the possibility of multiple involved schools, but was narrowed down to Indian Creek at the advice of Bauman's grant writer. The grant, which is awarded for five years, will pay for the program's staffing.
The program provides a solution to transportation challenges, but any youth who is not able to attend Sycamore Stars can still attend the Sycamore Youth Center in Steubenville, Bauman said.
A registration day on Aug. 22, coinciding with the school's open house orientation, already drew in nearly 30 interested individuals to register, Bauman said, and comments received during the registration were overwhelmingly positive.
Promotion for Sycamore Stars will begin by various means once the beginning date approaches, Minch-Hick said, and there will be a form for interested individuals to sign up.