Lego robots, cooking classes and Minecraft design. This $2.5 million will help Pasco students

Extracurricular programs in schools used to revolve around sports, music and the like.

But a federal program has helped schools take a new tact on keeping students engaged and active after hours.

Last year it helped the Pasco district start a bicycle safety program for middle school students, a cooking program in elementary schools, Minecraft design, along with help for drama classes and chess clubs.

This year, the 21st Century program is starting to aim $2.5 million at four Pasco elementary schools.

Lego robotics, anyone?

Whatever the grant turns into, it will end up helping students get better grades, have fewer disciplinary problems and be more likely to succeed, said Jay Scott, the director of WSU Tri-Cities’ 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

The new grant aims to help develop after-school programs at Mark Twain, Marie Curie, Captain Grey and Robert Frost elementary school. The program splits the $2.5 million across five years to fund extracurricular programs.

The federal 21st Century program funnels money to schools to help students with reading and math, improve their behavior in the classroom and increase the literacy levels of parents and their opportunities for educational development.

This is the third time Scott and his team have worked with the Pasco School District to develop programs.

The district’s three middle schools finished with the grant last year, and while not all of the programs persisted, Ochoa Middle School’s summer cycling safety program continued.

The money funded cooking classes for Emerson, Longfellow, Rowena Chess and Virgie Robinson students, computers for Minecraft, art courses, and helped chess and soccer clubs for third- to sixth-grade students.

Scott describes the program as providing a bridge for instructors and students to reach their goals.

It’s the freedom to be creative that allows the program — started in 1997 — to be successful, according to a paper from the founder and director of the Harvard Family Research program. With funding split across several years, it allows researchers to test different programs to determine if they achieve their goals.

“We’re excited to be starting up a new grant,” Scott said. “This is my fifth year as the director of the 21st Century program, and we’ve seen great successes. My goal is to build on the success from previous years.”

The funding also fits into a larger goal for the district to have every student to be involved in an extracurricular activity.

Data from the Pasco program show students are better behaved in class and improve academically. Also, the program connects students to the WSU Tri-Cities campus.

Each summer, students involved in 21st Century programs attend camps at the Richland campus. By bringing them there, students are able to imagine themselves going to college.

“We’ve seen kids become interested in college,” Scott said. “This is the first time some of these kids have been on a college campus. ... I believe our program opens the door to a lot of experiences that they might have have been able to have.”

The 21st Century site coordinators are already working with the schools to develop the programs, Scott said.

This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 12:38 PM.