Educating Our Youth
Every day, over 240 youth learn and grow at the A2S After School Academy. We focus on four core components.
- Academic Support
- Wellness & Nutrition
- Community Support
- Family Engagement
The A2S team, made up of 15 full-time staff, 5 part-time tutors, and 100 volunteers, develop educational activities inspired by the Nigerian curriculum to enhance learning, teach social skills, and provide leadership experience. Youth, ranging from Pre-K to high school ages, learn math and problem-solving skills, study vocabulary and phonics, practice writing and typing, and get their hands dirty (literally) in creative arts!
No child should have to choose between getting an education and finding their next meal. Every child at the Academy is served a hot meal each day to boost development and improve concentration. We purchase local, fresh ingredients to support the economy, and we engage mothers of the youth to prepare the meals. Children also learn about maintaining a healthy body, and participate in empowerment and life skills sessions. Themes like Living with Integrity, Being Yourself, and the Use of Language are all part of the Academy experience.
Our Academy students practice community service by assisting with distributions of food and educational supplies to neighboring schools. The children also make regular visits to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp to share life lessons, discuss books they are reading, play games, and interact with the kids at the camp. Our A2S Kids News crew occasionally features IDP kids on its show. Over the past four years, A2S has distributed over 8,000 educational supplies and provided over 664,000 meals to the IDP camp.
A child’s home environment has significant effects on learning and school performance. We consider parents part of the A2S team, beginning with the mothers who develop the menu, prepare the meals, and clean the dishes on a daily basis. As of 2021, 51% of our A2S parents volunteer at the Academy in some way. We host cooking seminars to teach parents about the importance of nutritious meals and using clean utensils. We educate parents on how to help their kids study and offer discussions about alternative ways of discipline, understanding your child, and the benefits of strong parental figures in a child’s life.