COURTESY PHOTO At North Elementary, Kaylee McGovern, Kylie Wilkinson, and Angelica Crawford participate in a sewing class after school.

A collaborative effort among the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant, BOCES, and Uinta County School District No. 1 has given elementary students at Evanston’s four elementary schools the opportunity to participate in a regular after-school program. The program is fairly new, but the high enrollment levels have exceeded all expectations, Tamra Petersen, coordinator for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant, said.

The estimated overall enrollment for the after-school program includes more than 500 students. North Elementary has the highest participation rate with almost 50 percent of the student body attending.

The program started in December, and the school district started providing transportation home in January. The bussing has given even more students the opportunity to participate.

“The premise of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant is to facilitate and foster relationship-building opportunities through safe, positive, and high quality educational and enriching after-school programs,” Petersen said.  

“The partnership with the school district has been tremendous. Considering the state standards and increasing demands put on schools, they have many responsibilities to tend to within the traditional school day,” Petersen said. “The commitment of the administrators, both at the district office and at the building level, the coordinators and teachers has been immense and a true indication of the value this program offers our students.

“Dr. Bailey has been instrumental and incredibly supportive of this program and has embraced the challenges associated with integrating this into the schools. The coordinators at each school have also been wonderful, as it has taken great effort and dedication to develop and maintain these programs.”

Each school has its own coordinator and each school’s program is a little different. The programs are adapted to meet the needs of the students and teachers at each school. A majority of the teachers are teachers at the school, but some are members of the community or other school district staff.

Classes of 12 to 14 students are taught in different and special ways that are appealing to kids. Examples of classes available include simple machines or structures, both using Legos with robotics, art classes, cooking to teach math, jump rope, scrap booking, knitting, and language arts. There is even a class where the students create I-movies. Some of the schools also offer homework help.

The program will finish up in April. Peterson said they have not yet discussed the 2008-2009 school year. Even with the grant, they are always looking for additional funding.