By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Teague Park Elementary School transformed into a NASA space lab of sorts on the evening of Oct. 18 as the school hosted RSU 39’s 21st Century Lights on Afterschool event for 2012.
Parents, teachers and students from the school district, including Caribou’s Teague Park, Hilltop, middle and high schools, along with Limestone Community School, gathered in the Teague Park gymnasium to watch program director Marie Beckum lead the students in a walk on the sun and several planets.
The children then visited stations set up to demonstrate the skills one would need in order to work for NASA, such as a traverse wall, moon jumps, tricky space jobs, a NASA iPad app station, and family mission patch station, where students created patches for their “space suits” symbolizing the mission of their family.
The 21st Century grant was created approximately 10 years ago as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative. Its mission is to provide a multifaceted after-school program to students of grades 3 through 12 in both the Caribou and Limestone schools. The program includes enrichment opportunities, tutorials for grade improvement, homework help and guides to good nutrition and exercise practices. A summer school program is also offered.
The after-school sessions are held at the Caribou Learning Center Monday through Thursday. The Lights on Afterschool assembly is a periodic event that opens the program up to the public to showcase the accomplishments of the grant.
According to Beckum, close to 75 RSU 39 students participate in the program.
