Rancho Del Norte's After School Program in San Diego Relaunches with Extra Support

The start of the Fall 2022 semester has seen the restart of many After School programs across a majority of PSCDC communities across California. This year, the After School Program at Rancho Del Norte is coming back under the supervision of one of our newest additions to the PSCDC family, Martha Sue Yeary. With new programs offering extra support in collaboration with community organizations, Rancho Del Norte residents can be confident in thriving at school.

According to Martha Sue, there is one main goal she hopes to accomplish with the After School Program. "To create a safe and welcoming place for the kids to come after school and have their homework finished before they go back home for the evening is the main goal." Getting that supplemental support and time to focus on homework, especially outside of school hours and from their household, may be a major determining factor for the academic success for young residents.

"We will use both the computer room and the community room for one-on-one tutoring," reveals Martha Sue, "we have two volunteer groups who will come on Tuesdays and Thursdays for tutoring." The first set of volunteers for the day will come from Del Norte's Boys Team Charity, and the second set from the National Charity League. The two groups will each have an hour each for tutoring and homework assistance. The computer lab is also made available for students who need to use the computers for research and learning purposes during the study periods.

Similar to previous years, volunteer high school students are offering their time to lead the tutoring sessions with residents. This mutual partnership not only allows residents to get personalized help, but also provides volunteers an opportunity to practice leadership and earn community hours! This year's After School Program has the Del Norte's Boys Team Charity's "Sports-Tutoring" and Juli Veee's soccer clinics making a highly anticipated return alongside the installment of a new reading program and "What's Your Happy Word?" program for residents to participate in.

Del Norte's Boys Team Charity's "Sports-Tutoring" service, headed by Kajal Vora, is beloved by Del Norte residents, as an exciting and fun way to couple physical activity with mental exercise. Over the summer, the Boys Team Charity visited residents to help them learn and improve their skills in football and soccer. If it was too hot to go outside and play, volunteers and residents kept the fun going by playing Pictionary indoors with residents. Now that school has started, volunteers will use their time to assist each resident with their homework.

Volunteers from the National Charity League, a mother/daughter volunteer organization, introduced a new educational program in the community. Booklings, a new reading program that started as a virtual reading and tutoring program offered during COVID by 17-year-old Sara Sigal, began in late-July. By issuing a reading challenge to each of the kids that attended her program. Sara sparked the desire for Rancho Del Norte residents to read books. To help fuel their passion to read, Debbie Sigal, Sara's mother, donated new books to create a small community library. Residents would check out a book they wanted to read, and after reading and returning the book, they would be quizzed on what they liked best about the book. On August 16th, Sara gave out gift card prizes to each participant in her Reading Program, with the one who completed the most books receiving the largest gift card. With such an astounding participation in the program, Martha Sue is incorporating the reading program and checkout system into the community's After School Program.

"What's Your Happy Word?" is Martha Sue's own program that dares residents to develop their mindset. "I have taught them how to believe in themselves and learn to overcome obstacles by discovering a 'HAPPY WORD' that when used, makes them smile, giggle, laugh and resonate with their Inner Child," elaborates Martha Sue, "they learn to implement their 'HAPPY WORD' into their daily lives and use it as an anchor to help them turn a negative situation into a positive result." Together with the education and physical health already being within the After School Program, Martha Sue hopes that her program can provide important mindset and self-confidence development within her residents.