If you head down to Mary A. Goetz Elementary School in Ludlow this summer, you may be surprised that students are still in the building.
“Each day we have an hour and a half of math, an hour and a half of reading, one hour of STEM, so we kind of hit all the main subjects but then we add in art, music, things like that per day,” said Shannon Adcock, the coordinator of 21st Century Programs at the school. “And, of course, we do fun things like that.”
The “fun things” she mentioned for this week was a visit from Kona Ice. Students stood in line by the side walk, waiting to get their shaved ice and choose their flavors.
The SHINE program; which stands for Support, Help, Innovate, Nurture and Enrich; is a supplemental academic program funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st Century Learning Center grant initiative, which provides funding for academic enrichment throughout the country. Many schools throughout the region have similar programs.
During the school year, SHINE offers before and after-school programs for qualifying students, but during the summer, the program takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In addition to the activities Adcock described, the students are given free breakfast and lunch. What’s more, anyone from the community can come and get free food during the program’s meal times, even if they aren’t enrolled in the program or students in the Ludlow Independent School district.
Adcock also works in the school library. She’s aided by program mentors who are often college students studying education or former participants in the program.
“I am basically the leader of the kindergarteners and first graders,” said Brady Sparks. Sparks graduated from the district and has ambitions to study early childhood education at the University of Cincinnati. He thought that working in the SHINE program would be a good way to prepare.
“Throughout the day I teach them reading, math. Then you do just some little creative fun crafts with them,” Sparks added.
He was aided in his duties by Prestyn King, a high school student and alum of the SHINE program.
“When I went to SHINE, I really liked it,” King said, “and I liked Shannon, and she asked me if I wanted to work, and I said yeah.”
Adcock said that many high school students in the district complete community services hours at SHINE program.
“We have a lot of different mentoring programs set up for the district,” Adcock said. “So they already know these students, these students already know them.”
The SHINE program is on its ninth year of operation. To learn more about the program, see if your student is eligible or if you would like to learn how to support the program, contact Shannon Adcock at either [email protected] or (859)360-9221.