Outreach: After-school program empowers middle schoolers to engage with community
An after-school program in Clarke County School District (CCSD) is giving students the tools to explore the power of art and community activism.
After a hiatus due to COVID, middle school ESOL students at Coile Middle School will once again realize the power of their voices thanks to a program developed by the UGA Mary Frances Early College of Education in collaboration with 21st Century Community Learning Centers, a federally funded program that provides after-school services and programs. The partnership began in 2010 with the aim of collaborating with both CCSD teachers and students through participatory activities, including mapping, coding, poetry, and theater.
“Our goal is to position the youth members of our project as civic leaders who can shape a vision of what they want for their future and share with others their dreams for the school, for the communities where they live, and for our country,” said professor Ruth Harman, who developed the program. “We are all learning together, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always relating together in dynamic ways as an intergenerational group of people who care for each other.”