After School Program Analysis

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Adolescence is a time when individuals are experiencing important changes to their physical self and identity. Unfortunately, this is also a time of great adversity and stress, especially for those living in less fortunate situations. The Ascension After School Program is nestled in the Union Hill area of Worcester, which greatly struggles with violence and poverty. The elementary school students who attend this program come in with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and it is the job of their friends, the tutors and Sister Pat Murphy to help alleviate some of that. The program helps to promote overall adolescent health by facilitating relationships with peers and mentors, giving students a strong connection to something in their community …show more content…

Many of them feel very little connection to school and to their teachers, because their teachers and administrators have not taken the time to get to know them. I asked a student who was thriving in math class at the start of the year why he now hated this class so much and he told me his teacher left to have a baby and they had a new teacher who didn’t care about what they did during the class. Its small things like having a teacher who is not willing to make school engaging that causes us to lose students. Evidence shows that “young people who feel connected to school not only do better academically but have better developmental outcomes” (Lynne & Robert Blum, 2009, p. 57). By creating this after school program, Sister Pat has been able to help strengthen the relationship between the school and the students. Research has shown that relationships with “prosocial nonparental adults can have a strong positive effect on adolescent development” (Bernat & Resnick, 2009, p. 381). In the case of Sister Pat, she has shown these students that she will always be a present figure in their life who is willing to help them when it comes to education and that they should trust the school as well. Studies have found that when adolescents have relationships like these with mentors or role models that it “can have a broad effect on the health and well-being of the adolescents” (Bernat & Resnick, 2009, p.

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