Thursday, November 1, 2007
Tio Duermeier recently spent his Wednesday afternoon juggling and visiting with seventh- to ninth-grade students at the after-school program Wednesdays at Liberty Hall. The program brings in entertainment, educational presentations and organizations to provide safe and fun activities for the students each Wednesday, when the students get out of school early.
Mauntell Ford, Wilson freshman, gets her zombie make-up applied by Melissa Morrell, Greenbay Wisconsin senior, at the Lawrence Art Center Wednesday afternoon. Usually on Wednesday's, KU student volunteers meet at Liberty Hall to help junior high students to plan events and projects.
Duermeier, KU juggling club vice president and Lawrence senior, encouraged other KU groups to visit. However, he warned them to be aware of a big distraction for the students.
“That age is a tough crowd and there was free pizza,” Duermeier said. “But we showed them we had a few tricks up our sleeve.”
Maggie Bixler, KU alumna and program coordinator, said the program was a good balance between awareness programs and fun activities that ranged from hip-hop lessons, drug prevention and theater performances. She said about 50 students attended each week. The program is usually held at Liberty Hall, 644 Massachussetts St., unless there is a show or the activity requires a different location.
Bixler said she loved having KU students volunteer because they connected so well with the middle school students.
“The kids respond really posi tively,” Bixler said. “I think it’s a medium ground. They’re not adults, yet they’re still a little cooler to them.”
Duermeier said the juggling club visited the program in September to give basic demonstrations and help the students learn to juggle. He said he attended Central Junior High in Lawrence and wished he had a similar after-school program when he was in junior high. He said he would have enjoyed the regular structured activities and exposure to the University organizations.
Justin Gramarye, juggling club member and Fairfax, Va., graduate student, said he enjoyed goofing around with the kids and teaching students how to juggle.
“We got them involved, and some made serious progress,” Gramarye said. “Overall, we had fun; they had fun.”
Gramarye said the group was definitely planning on visiting again. He said other groups, especially those that would appeal specifically to that age group, should seriously consider visiting the program.
The junior high students met at the Lawrence Arts Center, 940 New Hampshire St., for Halloween activities of making caramel apples and zombie costumes Wednesday. The Lawrence-based E.M.U. theater also performed for the students and took them through “zombie boot camp” to teach them to be zombies.
Bixler said the Wednesdays at Liberty Hall program began last year with help from the Community Impact Fund grant from United Way. She said the funding for the grant lasted two years, so they were already looking for additional sponsors and funding. Bixler said the after-school program focused on prevention programming for junior high students and provided supervised activity between the early release from school on Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. Bixler said Wednesdays at Liberty Hall started at about the same time the early dismissal was implemented.
“There was a lot of concern throughout the community,” Bixler said. “Where were these kids going to go? They’re very influential at this age and make those critical choices. We knew these kids needed a place to go.”
Bixler said many KU students and organizations had volunteered their time this semester, but she would love to see more, especially in the spring semester.
“There are so many KU organizations that could share something with our kids,” Bixler said, “just to have fun with them or share their culture with them.”
Edited by Rachel Bock
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