PAGE 2 — Addison Independent, Monday, February 22, 2016
LINCOLN STUDENTS IN the Expanded Learning Program take an afternoon to enjoy freshly fallen snow on their sleds. ANeSU’s after-school program provides time for learning and exercise. Photo courtesy Jennifer Allred
Students enjoy extra-curriculars ANeSU students use after-school time to enrich learning By EVAN JOHNSON end of the month. The program ofBRISTOL — For students in the fers 45 workshops for the 2015-2016 Addison Northeast Supervisory school year in topics including conUnion, the day is hardly over when versational Spanish, Zumba, trivia, the afternoon bell rings. They’re not creative writing, space exploration just participating in sports or get- and French children’s literature — ting some extra tutoring to name a few. from a teacher; rather, in “The bottom “We try to create opfour of the five ANeSU portunities for kids to line is that elementary schools, try things they might students can be found kids that not ordinarily get a learning everything participate in chance to do,” said from tai chi, to cooking, extra curricular ANeSU’s Mandy Chesto making jewelry. ley Park, who directs activities The workshops and the program. “We’re inare more classes are part of ANefusing it with academSU’s Expanded Learn- successful after ics that are quite impering Program (ELP), a high school.” ceptible to the student, — Maryann which is exciting. It series of after-school Twyman feels and looks differexperiential learning classes held in six-week ent than what you might sessions throughout the school year see during the school day.” and the summer. The program has been in place for The program is offered at Bristol, the past five years. With the help of a Starksboro’s Robinson, Monkton, renewed five-year grant of approxiand Lincoln elementary schools. mately $1 million from the Vermont Beeman Elementary in New Haven Agency of Education this year, the plans to begin participating by the program has been expanded from
two to five days a week at the Bristol and Starksboro elementary schools. The programs now go until 5 p.m. and provide students with transportation home when needed. ANeSU employees and community members teach the programs. Recent studies suggest that access to these types of activities can leave a lasting impression that will serve students well in the future. A national study recently featured in Voices in Urban Education, a publication of Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, reviewed student trends in extracurricular participation from the 1970s until today. The study found that while middle- and upper-class students have become more active in their after-school sports, clubs and vocations, their less affluent peers have become more disengaged. This rising disparity also exacerbates an existing achievement gap between more affluent students and those of more modest means, which can affect the opportunities available to
STUDENTS IN ADDISON Northeast Supervisory Union’s Expanded Learning Program gather around a table for their afternoon workshops. Photo courtesy Kate LaRiviere Gagner
them later in life. Researchers in the article said the trend was “alarming.” According to data from ANeSU, about 200 students (or just under half) of ANeSU school’s population participate in ELP. ANeSU’s Chesley Park said students who participate in the workshops see improvement in their attendance and performance in during the school day. “The bottom line is that kids that participate in extra curricular activities are more successful after high school,” she said. “The problem is that the equality gap widens because some people can’t afford that. Some parents aren’t home to transport stu-
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dents and some parents don’t think about those opportunities. We have a real problem of inequality among students and this is one way to close this gap.” To allow all students access, programs are open to all students, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Bristol resident Maryann Twyman’s two children, one in third grade and the other in kindergarten at Bristol Elementary, have participated in the program as long as they’ve been at the school. After they both recently completed a six-week workshop in photography, 8-year-old Idries is looking forward to participating in a film club while 5-year-old Edda hopes for a spot in a dance program where she can practice jazz, ballet and modern dance. “They’ve loved every program they’ve been in,” Twyman said of the programs, which are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. “They know it’s a privilege to be there and they love the variety.” In the past, they’ve participated in African drumming, violin lessons, cooking, a nature club and a comic book club. If it weren’t for these programs, Twyman said, her kids would likely come home right after school, where they play outside or do their homework. Extracurricular activities can be expensive and Twyman said programs like ELP allow students to find where there passions are. “Financially and logistically it’s do-able,” she said. “It’s certainly a perk for them and us as parents. It gives them a little exposure to what they might want to invest in longterm and what we as parents can invest in,” she said.