Drury Prepares for Second After-School Session

By Melanie Rancourt
Special to iBerkshires
11:08PM / Sunday, January 04, 2009

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Drury High School students who didn't try the school's new 21st Century Community Learning Center this past fall will have another opportunity when the next session begins on Jan. 12.

The first session began in mid-October and ran until Dec. 12. Enrollment for the program totaled 27 students with five to 10 students staying each afternoon.

"Our first session got off to a quiet start," said Jackie DeGiorgis, a Drury science teacher who was hired as site coordinator last summer. "However, I feel it went well. It was definitely an on-the-job learning experience."

The program debuted at the high school in October thanks to a $100,000 federal grant. The after-school program has flourished for some years at all three North Adams elementary schools and at Conte Middle School. The programs offered at these sites are staffed by certified teachers, program leaders, assistants, student volunteers from both Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Williams College, and community partners. 

The Learning Center offers a wide range of activities — from sports to cooking to scrapbooking — all of which must contain an educational component.

"I became involved with the 21st Century Community Learning Center program through my work on the Drury High School drop-out prevention/alternate education committee," DeGiorgis said. "We had done a lot of research on ways of getting at-risk students to graduate on time. One of the things we found out was that students who feel they have a connection to the school beyond the regular, more traditional academic day were much more likely to graduate."
 
Offering programs to high school students proved very different from offering programs to students in the younger grades. 

"At the high school level, students are much more independent," DeGiorgis said. "Students often have their own means of transportation and feel they can come and go as they please. Many have other commitments, too, at this age, be it after-school jobs, taking care of younger siblings or another after-school activity, such as sports or drama. Our goal is to reach the kids that may not fit into any of these categories and offer them fun, interesting and relative activities they feel are worth their time." 

In the hopes of improving enrollment numbers, Drury plans on promoting the program more before the second session begins. 

"We had a promotional video shown during December's homeroom period at Drury that was created by the students enrolled in our TV production workshops," DeGiorgis said. "We are also planning an after-school spirit week to bring attention to our programming."

Drury's second session, which will run from Jan. 12 to March 27, will feature many returning programs.
 
"Our most popular, Wii Sports, is coming back, however, we are adding a new dimension to it," DeGiorgis said. "We will be incorporating league play so that students can chart and bracket their progress in preparation for an end-of-session tournament." 

This session will also include several intramural sports activities such as basketball, volleyball and ping-pong. Other workshops include scrapbooking, designer's workshop (which includes designing and building a set for the middle school's drama production "Into the Woods"), TV production, current events, floor gymnastics, Latin American cooking, contra dancing, career choices, radio drama, "Voices of North Adams: An Oral History II" program and homework help. 

Programs run Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 4:30. Students are welcome to have a healthy snack in the school cafeteria before programming begins; transportation from Drury is provided. 

For more information about Drury's 21st Century Community Learning Center programs, contact DeGiorgis at 413-662-3240.