BCS Pirate Partners

Full-Service Community Schools Berea improves student lives in many, and this includes connecting community partners to programming that might continue after the FSCS grant ends. Two community partners that have stepped up to help make that a possibility are the Berea College Child Development Lab (CDL) and the Madison County Public Library.

The CDL, which serves as a learning laboratory for students, staff, and faculty in the Child and Family Studies Program, has supported the FSCS Berea Builds Brains program from the beginning. In Phase I (2022), eight educational learning kits were given to CDL families to help with children’s brain development and strengthen positive relationships with their parents. In February 2023, eight families were invited to a Parent Café for Phase II. Not only have those children enjoyed the activities at home and at school, but the kits have also been used with other students from other classrooms as learning tools. Each phase of Berea Builds Brains ends with FSCS Elementary Site Coordinator Vanda Rhodes asking for input from families about how to improve the initiative.

The Berea branch of the Madison County Public Library has partnered with FSCS to take part in BCS Family Night events, provide free books, invite families to sign up for library cards, and offer annual Summer Reading Clubs. The library offers a wide array of activities, such as crafts, Lego Club, preschool activities and online libraries for all ages, which are free. FSCS has made it a priority to share information about upcoming library events and opportunities for our BCES student families. The connections made will allow families to continue learning about the many ways the Madison County Public Library can help students and families.

FSCS appreciates the partnerships made and the efforts to continue improving the lives of BCS students.

Full-Service Community Schools Berea could not do the work it has done for the last 4.5 years without the support and contributions of its many community partners, including the Center for Excellence in Learning through Service (CELTS) at Berea College, which offers college students service-learning and volunteer opportunities in the community. Two CELTS programs in particular have boosted the FSCS afterschool programming at Berea Community Middle School: the Bonner Scholars Program and the Hispanic Outreach Program at Berea College.

Since 2019, the Bonner Scholars Program has gone from supporting a single program with the Forestry Outreach Center to planning and leading multiple original afterschool programs on its own, beginning with programs created during the pandemic before returning to in-person programming in the fall of 2021.

Over the past four years, the Bonners have led 17 different original afterschool programs at BCMS and 110 middle schoolers have spent more than 1,000 total hours in their programs.

The first foreign language afterschool program to be offered at BCMS was Spanish, piloted by the Hispanic Outreach Program (HOP) as a virtual program called “Lingo con Mingo” (“con mingo” being a twist on the Spanish conmigo meaning with me) in January 2021. As all programs were still virtual, the college volunteers had to develop and implement their program without having ever set foot in the school building.

That fall, HOP transitioned the program to an in-person format, expanding sessions from 30 minutes to one hour and have continued teaching basic Spanish language using a games-based approach that integrates culture from Spanish-speaking countries.

More than 50 middle schoolers have spent nearly 250 cumulative hours in the Spanish afterschool program. HOP volunteers have not only increased an interest in learning Spanish but also paved the way for middle schoolers to learn other languages.

FSCS Berea is grateful for the opportunities offered to students through these partnerships.

As the Berea Community Volunteer Coordinator it has come to my attention that people are wanting to volunteer and seem to feel they get little response. I always try to respond very quickly if I am contacted. If you are wanting to volunteer it goes directly through me. If you go to the school webpage you will also see my information. It is a very easy process. Please remember in order to get the volunteer process started it has to come to me. If you ask someone else, that information may not always get relayed to me. Please reach out as I am located in the MS/HS office and would be happy to get you started. You may also email me at Malikca. [email protected]
Please feel free to share this post with other parents!

We hope to see you there! Don’t forget to sign up for dinner!