Energy Express: A creative way to learn | News, Sports, Jobs – The Review

Carole Scheerbaum, Hancock County WVU Extension Agent, with an Energy Express project students made her about five years ago. Scheerbaum read a book about what was in a lunchbox and the students crafted a lunchbox, complete with food items for Scheerbaum as that days art project. (Photo by Julie Riedel)

NEW CUMBERLAND, W.Va. Getting children excited about reading is what Energy Express is all about. The six-week summer reading program encourages kids to express their creativity while instilling a love for reading.

I think that our youth when they come, they find it fun because the books are fun, the mentors are fun, the activities are fun and they end up reading and learning in a way that doesnt feel like Im learning. I just feel like Im having fun. But they are learning, said Carole Scheerbaum, WVU Extension Agent, 4-H Youth Development Extension Service Hancock County.

Energy Express is run by West Virginia Extension Service. The program was introduced by the state in 1994 to help children, between grades one and six, maintain reading levels in rural and low-income communities.

It really helps reduce what we call the summer slide. And that means, unfortunately a lot of kiddos when they leave for the summer and dont have the everyday academic routine, their academic skills can slide back a month, or even up to three months over the summer, said Erica Sauer, director of special programs for the Hancock County School District. So, by attending Energy Express were helping to prevent that slide, and not only prevent it, but actually help to gain skills for the next grade level.

Hancock County got involved with Energy Express in 2009. Scheerbaum specializes in youth development extension programs and was hired for the job in July 2008. A community member told her about Energy Express and encouraged her to bring it to the county for the following summer.

The state allows 80 Energy Express sites each year. To qualify for the program, the county must have more than 50 percent of the children in a school community eligible for free or reduced-price meals and be able to supply 30 percent of the funding needed for the program.

Each of the six weeks is a theme picked by the state, which usually relates to family, community or making the world better. The students also receive a book for their own library related to the weeks theme.

The children come in the morning, they are greeted by their mentor and they have breakfast as a group and then they go into their classrooms and they are engaged in activities on reading, writing, art, and drama, said Scheerbaum. We also get them outside every day for 20 to 30 minutes of what we call noncompetitive recreation. I call it good old-fashioned rip and tear time. We play a lot of tag and so the children are engaged all day long with a lot of activities and its all about motivating them to want to read.

Energy Express is set up to be a half day, with the program starting with breakfast and ending with lunch. The children are placed into groups of eight with one mentor. Each group has about three ages within it, and they spend the summer together reading and working on writing, art and acting projects to help bring the books they read to life. At the end of the day, students sit down with another person to read for about 20 minutes in a one-on-one setting. They also have celebrity readers come in to read to the whole group.

Scheerbaum applies for two sites in Hancock County. She is currently working on the 2020 paperwork to maintain sites at Allison Elementary and Weirton Elementary. This year she is planning on 88 spots. Scheerbaum would like to see that number grow to as many children as the sites can handle.

To function as an Energy Express site there needs to be space for each group to split off, a cafeteria, and at least one area for large group functions. In Hancock County, Scheerbaum looks for locations with multiple classrooms so each group has a home room, a cafeteria and multiple community spaces. Those requirements are how Allison and Weirton Elementary Schools were selected.

Even though were a small county, it is bigger than what you think. I mean when you live in Weirton and you have to drive to Chester or live in Chester and have to drive to Weirton its a little bit of a hike, and its hard, it makes it hard on the families. So, its nice to have the two locations.

In the 2019 season the Hancock County Energy Express sites managed a three-month reading level gain.

This gain was measured through a standardized process, that involved a test and a random sample of children from each site across the state. The children were tested at the beginning and end of the summer program, and then their results were measured. This year also included additional research based evaluation for the program where five counties participated. The state asked those five counties to select students who werent participating in Energy Express and to give them a pre and post study to determine broad reading achievement. The students who didnt participate in Energy Express on average achieved one half month reading gains, but the students in the Hancock County program achieved reading gains of 3.1 months.

So, we were very elated with those results and seeing the benefits that the children receive in working within small groups with an AmeriCorps mentor, said Scheerbaum.

Scheerbaum shared the accomplishment during presentations during the Nov. 14, Hancock County Commission meeting and Dec. 16, Hancock County Board of Education meeting. During the Hancock County Board of Education presentation, Scheerbaum asked if the school would like to continue its partnership with Energy Express and extension.

Since 2012, Hancock County Schools have partnered with Energy Express to benefit Hancock County youth. The school district helps the program by providing the locations, custodial services, and two buses to help transport students.

Hancock County Schools partners with Scheerbaum on a number of other programs, including the Storybook Cafe. The Storybook Cafe is an interactive and mobile learning center, that travels throughout the county. It is another way the county encourages educational growth over the summer. Storybook Cafe runs for three months during the summer. Its schedule overlaps with Energy Express, providing another opportunity to engage students academically. Sauer leads Storybook Cafe with Scheerbaum providing Extension Service volunteers, usually college students, who help lead activities. For 2019 the Extension Service volunteers ran Stem themed activities. Scheerbaum and Sauer also work to bring various seminars to students including a personal finance class, and Scheerbaum helps to engage students at the school districts alternative learning center.

What excites me about energy express is that it, while its very academically focused, its also very creative. Each room has a theme and they spend a lot of time with hands on activities. And I think especially for summer, thats so enticing to kids. When I come to visit throughout the summer, theyre always happy and engaged and having a good time, said Sauer. I dont see any kids whose parents are having to coerce and bribe and drag them to Energy Express. Theyre excited to come and its very summer camp feeling theyre with the same kids every day, in the same classroom and their classroom has its theme and its very active. The day goes by very fast and the kids are very interested and engaged in what theyre doing.

The state outlines the expectations for Energy Express and provides program directors with guidelines to run their sites. The state also partners with a number of organizations to make the program possible. Those partners include the Department of education, AmericCorps and the Library Commission among others. With the help of partners the program receives funding, staffing, books and the ability to provide students with two meals a day.

They do train us. They do provide us with, with an extensive amount of technical assistance, and the model that the program uses in order to ensure that we are making our goals for this summer. I liken the model to a box. You can play in a box in a number of different ways, but you stay within the box. And, the box is very creative, which is what is probably the most wonderful about it, said Scheerbaum.

The 2020 program will run from June 22 to July 31. It is the twelfth year for Energy Express in Hancock County. Every year Scheerbaum hires mentors, location directors, and community coordinators to help run the sites. Scheerbaum relies on college students to function as mentors, she said education students gravitate to the summer program, but she has worked with students from all fields of study. Energy Express also relies on community volunteers to read one-on-one with students. Community members can also be celebrity readers or can donate books for the program to use.

It really does take an incredible team and its not just the team thats on site, but my office staff as well as the community, said Scheerbaum. All of us are a part of that team, to bring Energy Express to the county every summer and we really enjoy it. We have a great love for the program here in the office. We see the benefit that it has and it is truly a joy to bring this to the county each summer.

jriedel@reviewonline.com

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Energy Express: A creative way to learn | News, Sports, Jobs - The Review