Citing the cutting-edge after-school curriculum and facilities as an “on-ramp to the twenty-first century” for Macon, Georgia, at-risk students, Campus Clubs Executive Director Tony Lowden has his sights on eventually serving thousands of children every day.
“It’s a safe haven where kids can be dropped off, and from the hours of 3 to 8 o’clock in the evening these kids are safe,” Lowden said following the recent open house and ribbon cutting. “And not only are they safe, they’re being equipped with skills to help them with homework in a good, nurturing environment.”
Academic enrichment in core content areas and a full-time dropout-prevention program are being implemented for up to 800 sixth through 12th graders each day in recently renovated classrooms at Strong Tower Fellowship Church. The need, however, is even greater, and Lowden hopes future expansion can help keep even more students on the right track. “Our goal is to serve 3,000 students per day. That would be tremendous.”
Community Health Foundation awarded a grant to start the educational programs, which pick up where Campus Clubs’ elementary enrichment programs leave off. The secondary enrichment programs include curriculum from Pitsco Education, such as Health Science, Reading and Robots, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Earth Science, Biology, and Robotics. A full-time Star Academy Program for dropout-prevention and acceleration is also slated to be implemented in the near future.
“Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly in the inner cities, are disadvantaged because there’s little reinforcement of learning that’s gone on in the schools,” said Pitsco Education CEO Dr. Harvey Dean. “A big thrust of the program here is for the students to have that support for learning.”
As an example, Lowden cited the Health Science curriculum that students explore in a classroom he refers to as the “CSI Room.” “There are kids who’ve been around crime all their lives coming in and learning how to work on a crime scene instead of committing crimes. That’s a huge turnaround. It’s a game changer.”
Learn more about
Pitsco Education Curriculum and
Campus Clubs.
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