CVAF’s middle school specialist, Richard “Rico” Peralta shares six ways to engage middle school students in afterschool.

• Make it Hard to Walk Away.
  Give students a sense of belonging by allowing them to participate in program design. Build classes with the student in mind through surveys, focus groups and lunch activities. Make the offerings fun and empowering. Set students up for success. Connect them with the people around them. Make it a big club developed around their culture.
  
  
• Promote, Promote, Promote.
  Promote the program at lunch time, ignite the “buzz,” create visual advertisements, and apply creative incentives. Promote the program to students, teachers, administrators, parents, and other stakeholders. Teach your leaders how to promote the program. Promote what students are doing, even when your program is full.
  
  
• Make it Relevant.
  What are youth in to these days? Apply age-specific appeal to classes in photography, graphic arts, video production, music, dance, crafts, visual arts, robotics, rocketry, cooking, intramural activities, fashion, and others.
  
  
• Incorporate Different Styles of Instruction.
  Afterschool instruction is interactive and can offer much more freedom than the school-day curriculum. Mentoring, coaching, service learning, project-based learning, and experiential learning are ways to connect students to new skills and ideas.
  
  
• Surprise Learning.
  Disguise and surprise them with academic integration, life skills development and unexpected learning.  Academic content standards + student interests = success. Be intentional. A hip hop class, fashion class or guitar class can also incorporate math lessons, language development, and life skills, for example.
  
  
• Give them Purpose.
  Even students in middle school want to make a difference. Help them see a purpose, create goals and find a vision for something greater through their afterschool program. This can include facilitating the students giving back to others in some way. Perhaps a performance, exhibit or competition somewhere will offer extra incentive for excellence.

CVAF can provide you with specific tools and techniques in each of these areas. Contact Rico Peralta at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.