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W-S after-school activities offer education, fun and balanced meals

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Daniel Bryant enjoys dinner following an activity-filled after school session. (Photos by Sandy Vold)

Brianna Ray and Ella Jones carefully glue pretzels to cardboard to form the walls of their log cabins.

Slime is sloppy, but ever so much fun. Brody Ray, Liam Updike and Jordy Huber enjoy working with it.

By Sandy Vold

Thanks to two separate grants, Wauzeka-Steuben School is humming with after-school activity every Monday through Friday during the school term.

The Community Learning Center (CLC), in its fourth month of operation, is still growing and expanding. Assisted by a five-year grant from the Wisconsin Department of Education, staff members have enhanced their former Arts, Crafts, Technology program, tutoring and other programs to offer homework help, STEM, arts and crafts, physical fitness activities as well as volunteer opportunities after school Monday through Friday. In addition, the food service program has received a grant to serve a snack and an evening meal to students on school days.

Katarina Jungbluth, an elementary school teacher who heads the CLC explained that activities begin right after dismissal at 3:20, and the program runs until 6 p.m. Students can then choose to stay for dinner served in the cafeteria (free of charge to anybody 18 or younger, in the district or out of the district) and catch the late bus, or be picked up by a family member.

A typical after-school session is divided into four parts: 1) A physical fitness component for all students, then 2) during the first session, students can choose between an enrichment activity or homework help, with two staff members usually available to answer questions. At 4 p.m. 3) snack is offered, also courtesy of the food service grant. 4) The second part of the session usually consists of another additional enrichment activity by grade level. Jungbluth is assisted by science teacher Susan Cooley (after school lead teacher for second grade and up), Miranda Updike (after school lead teacher for 4K, 5K and first grades), Debbie McCarthy (after school lead teacher for math 24, Battle of the Books and Lit Wars), Crystal Krachey, Shelly Mainwaring and various other day staff and student volunteers throughout each month.

Jungbluth said the activities have been chosen to emphasize teamwork, reading and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Activities, she said, are structured so that students “don’t even notice they are doing reading or math.”

On a typical after-school session in mid-December, younger students followed recipe directions to make two batches of “slime,” one red and one blue, plunging their hands into the gooey mixture to make it just the right consistency. Older students worked with pretzel sticks and glue to make log cabins, planning how they would join the sides of their buildings and attach roofs.

Although response to surveys has been slow, Jungbluth said the responses they do have are encouraging. Of the parents who responded to the question of why the kids come, answers included: children need supervision, 23 percent; their children’s friends attend, 46 percent; they like the activities offered, 31 percent; they want their children to have a chance to participate, 46 percent; child needs homework help, 23 percent (parents could check more than one answer). Seventy-five percent of parents responding said their children enjoy the activities, feel safe and are happier.

Rachel Huber, who came to pick up her son, Jordy, after his slime-making session, voiced her enthusiasm for the program: “They do a lot of different activities with math and science and shapes to show that learning can be fun. They do a great job.” She also expressed gratitude for the evening meal: “If we have an after-school activity, knowing that the kids can eat here is wonderful.”

Parent Lisa Krachey, who came to pick up daughter Alayna after the log cabin activity, said that since she doesn’t get home until 5 p.m., she can rest easy knowing that her child is safe and supervised and will have been able to get her homework finished so she has a little free time at home. “It’s very nice that they do this,” she said.

Jungbluth said one suggestion made by parents is to change the hours for the after-school activities to 3:20-5:20, with meals served from 5:20 to 5:50, and late buses leaving around 5:40. They will be making this change effective Jan. 2, 2018.

Cheryl Lippitt, who is in charge of the after-school meal preparation program, said so far she has served anywhere from 11 to 34 snacks a day, and the number of students coming for meals has varied from 11 to 46. Kids who stay after school for sports practice can eat before they go home, and she packs meals for athletes who have away games. Being flexible enough to adapt to the changing numbers can be a challenge, she said, but so far she has managed.

On the evening of the slime and log cabin activities, the tantalizing scent of chicken Alfredo drifted out of the cafeteria and into the hallway. Corn, bananas, buttered bread and a garden salad rounded out the meal.

Sandy Vold is a retired editor for the Courier Press. She wrote this article by request for the Courier.

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