After school program seeks volunteers

by Mark Dykes

Friday night at Thermopolis Middle School, the Lights On Afterschool program hosted a cribbage tourney, with tables set up for other games like checkers and chess. A light soup supper was also provided, and players were encouraged to play against people they didn’t know and strike up a conversation during their games.

Julia Scott, the site coordinator with the Lights On program, said they are currently looking for community members interested in instructing a club at the middle school. Current clubs include art, cribbage, cooking, woods, sports, Makerspace, guitar and Magic: The Gathering.

Those interested in instructing a club can choose a topic and bring their idea to Scott, who will present it to the students to gauge how many would be interested.

Though art is already one of the clubs, Scott said people can create clubs for specialized art styles.

The goal is to have programs that also provide academic enrichment. Cooking Is great, because it takes measurements into account. Cribbage utilizes math skills for building hands and scoring.

Community outreach is one of the goals for Lights On, Scott said, and she would really like to get community members involved to build that relationship with the students so they can learn about outreach and community service.

People can provide a club for as little as one day of a particular week if they choose, but can also provide that same club one day every week. The program time generally begins around 3:30 p.m.