Written by Emily Marotta, Site Coordinator at DuPont Hadley Middle School
Being involved with CASE Afterschool program for the past six years, first as a volunteer and then as a site coordinator, has given me a front row seat to the powerful impact this program has on youth. Though I could write a book on it myself, I would rather let the words of the youth speak for themselves.
I asked some questions to a student that joined the program in her 5th grade year and is in the 8th grade now. After four years in the program, the reflection that she had for me was related directly to values that we as the CASE staff are interweaving into our curriculum. She shared that CASE has been a place where she’s made new friends that she wouldn’t have otherwise made, stating: “If you don’t have friends before and you feel alone at school, you can come to CASE, and you will find new friends.”
“If you don’t have friends before and you feel alone at school, you can come to CASE, and you will find new friends.”
She talked about learning new things through activities such as participating in an interactive demonstration of pumping and gathering water, to show the process that many kids in developing countries have to go through daily just to gather water for their families. She shared about how much she enjoyed her experience working at a local farm and getting hands-on experience participating in a sustainable agriculture model. She has learned powerful lessons about perspective-taking and showing others respect and compassion.
I also talked to her mother who shared, “CASE has impacted my daughter in such a positive way, she takes on more responsibilities and has become more of a leader, I’m really proud of her.” Her daughter has become quite the leader in our CASE program, making sure that other students feel welcomed and have a space that they feel like they belong in.
In the year of 2019-2020, students and staff at my CASE site worked on a year-long video diary project. Spanning that year, an incredible amount of change took place within those students. One of the girls who began the program that year, came to CASE stating that she wasn’t going to trust anyone - her defensive walls were up very high. Over the course of the year, the CASE staff supported and encouraged her until she felt safe to let her guard down and be herself. Watching the completed video project at the end of the school year, she was in tears. When I asked her why, she said “They’re good tears - I just didn’t realize that I had changed so much.”
These are just a few of the many stories we experience daily at CASE. Across the board, CASE creates an opportunity for youth to grow into the kind of leaders that can recognize the importance of making people feel welcome. Youth develop the kind of compassion and ability to perspective-take that helps them think beyond their own viewpoint. They make new friends that they wouldn’t have otherwise made, which helps them to see that there’s more to people than what initially meets the eye. Above all else, they leave the program feeling loved and cared for by both their peers and staff. I am so thankful for the testimonies of these youth which demonstrate the impact of this program far better than I could.
CASE is a program of the Nashville After Zone Alliance. The Nashville After Zone Alliance is a network of coordinated after school programming for Metro’s middle-school students. NAZA is a partnership among the Nashville Public Library, MNPS, and other existing youth-serving groups. It is modeled on successful efforts in other cities and is organized around geographically-defined zones.
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