Charleston Promise Neighborhood’s Expanded Learning Time (ELT) afterschool programming is centered around bridging the achievement gap our students face, exposing them to activities and opportunities they might not otherwise experience, and helping each child find their inner “spark”. The ELT afterschool program offers daily academic assistance, extracurricular enrichment, and provides students with a hearty dinner. Once a semester, our students showcase for parents, teachers, and the community their newfound talents, and demonstrate what they have learned during ELT.
Show What You Know (SWYK) events have become the hallmark of our afterschool programming, and the first SWYK events of this school year did not disappoint!
Our first SWYK showcases were on Tuesday, January 10th and Wednesday, January 11th at Sanders-Clyde, and Mary Ford, respectively, where everyone from principals to parents were beaming with pride.
The performances included Communities in Schools: Second Steps CD students singing about how to distinguish feelings. The African Drum and Dance group demonstrated the rhythms and moves they learned from their instructors, and impressed everyone! R3 Inc. took to the stage to recite their creed about being a gentleman, and achieving your dreams. DancEd combined tap, ballet, and hip-hop movements into a show-stopping dance performance that had the entire audience moving in their seats. Green Heart Project read a recipe on stage, while members of their group distributed to audience members the finished product: home-grown lettuce wraps with BBQ beans inside! Soccer Shots talked about goal setting and then the students turned the stage into their own soccer field as they all demonstrated how to score goals. Coastal Lacrosse explained the fundamentals of Lacrosse, followed by student demonstrations of the core movements of the game.
World Languages for Kids, the Historic Charleston Foundation, Art Buzz, Bricks 4 Kidz, Redux, The Citadel, Lowcountry Maritime Society, A Smart Move, and Corpus Callosum displayed projects, completed student work, and various pictures of the past semester. At Sanders-Clyde, the evening ended with three students, who are preparing to graduate to middle school this year, reading personal testimonials about the impact ELT afterschool programming has had on them. At Mary Ford, two students took to the mic to rap about the Solar System with a beat they had created playing behind their rhymes. Both endings were a powerfully perfect way to wrap up the first semester of ELT!
Special thanks to our site coordinators at both schools, Ms. Daniels (Sanders-Clyde) and Ms. Hart (Mary Ford) for their continued dedication and hard work!
To support our afterschool initiatives, click here.
To view photos from both events, click here.
