ACADEMIC PROGRAMMING

The academic programming at Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Indiana Corridor is a year-long learning program designed to use the innate passions of children to empower them to learn outside of the classroom during their time at Club each day.

Each month, the Clubs focus on a theme of their choice to guide the Math and Literacy lessons covered each week. This program is designed in-house with support from community partners like the Riverbend Community Math Center. The Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Indiana Corridor also collaborates with each of the school districts our students are enrolled in so that the program coordinators can design the best possible learning programs for the Boys and Girls Club youth. These programs complement the work students do in school during the day and are designed to ignite further creativity and love for learning in each of the Club members.

Math Focus

Younger kids practice adding, subtracting, and skip counting by using play money, eating fruit loops, and moving our mascot Bluey along a number line.

Older kids work with fractions, decimals, and big numbers through bowling, secret spy codes, and designing their own train route.

Literacy Focus

Daily phonics practice personalized for student needs.

Weekly read-alouds, comprehension discussions, and hands-on activities that promote learning, creativity, and peer collaboration.

Lessons are aligned with local school curricula and word lists.

Career Focus

Boys and Girls Club youth receive monthly, sometimes weekly, opportunities to explore potential career paths and actively think about how they will choose to be productive, caring, responsible citizens as they get older.

Career exploration opportunities include guest speakers, written learning material, and hands-on activities facilitated by both Boys and Girls Club staff and local community members.

These opportunities originate from staff and student interests, the monthly academic themes, and other community organizations who want to share their particular skill sets and experience with our Boys and Girls Club kids.

Volunteer Focus

Throughout the year, Boys and Girls Club youth are encouraged to live out their potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens by giving back to their communities through learning and service opportunities.

Past opportunities include working with Downtown South Bend to beautify the city, writing cards for nursing home residents, running food drives, touring local animal shelters, cleaning up local parks, and starting community gardens.