Kiwanis Club teams up with local girls school

The club sees the arrangement as a good way to get involved in the city schools.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Downtown Kiwanis Club of Youngstown has formed a partnership with the Athena School of Excellence for Girls to reward outstanding pupil performance.
The club is underwriting the cost of a monthly pizza party for pupils selected by their teachers as outstanding pupils of the month.
"We thought that was a good way for us to get involved in the schools, just to let the kids know there is someone who cares about them and wants to see them do well," said Meg Evans, the club's administrative secretary.
Five Kiwanis representatives visited Athena at 1061 Lyden Ave. on the city's East Side on Thursday to meet this month's seven outstanding pupils, said Natalie Scott, Athena's guidance counselor.
Scott said she joined the club last fall and enlisted some of the Athena pupils to help in a "Pillowcase of Love" project sponsored by the Kiwanis.
About the project
The young women helped put together pillowcases filled with toothbrushes, soaps and other articles to be given to the Salvation Army for distribution to children in shelters and elsewhere.
Scott also began bringing several pupils to the regular club meetings, "and it just started from there," Evans recalled, noting that, when Scott began talking about the pizza parties for outstanding pupils, the club decided to get involved.
The Downtown Kiwanis also is involved with Youngstown's preschool program as well, she said.
Scott said the outstanding pupil program started in November. Pupils are nominated by their teachers based on academics, behavior and character.
The Athena school has a counterpoint for boys, the Alpha School of Excellence for Boys in the former Princeton building on the city's South Side. Both are new in Youngstown this school year. The gender schools serve only seventh- and eighth- graders.
There is a lot of research showing that boys and girls learn differently, and sometimes lesson plans need to be geared around the way they learn, said Dr. Wendy Webb, district superintendent.
The goal of the schools is to provide intensive intervention to get the children back on the proper academic track and develop sound social skills, Webb added.
gwin@vindy.com