WAYNE – A second donation in the past three years was made to the Wayne Community Schools Foundation from the Wayne Area Legacy Fund on behalf of the third year of an after-school program at Wayne Elementary School.
Extended learning opportunities along with a more structured after-school setting for students in grades K-6 is making a return with full numbers.
Wayne Elementary principal Russ Plager talked about the funds will be mainly used for staffing.
“We have one director which is Carrie Wendte and then we have four teachers which are education majors from Wayne State College,” said Plager. “Most of our funding is to pay for them to work with our kids and we collaborate with Wayne State to get great students and future educators to work with our kids.”
The check was presented to Plager and executive director with the Wayne Community Schools Foundation, Brandon Foote on Thursday, August 26 at Wayne Elementary School by legacy fund members totaling $15,000.
The after-school program is limited to 50 kids and the spaces filled up quickly. Youth will be able to participate in a structured place where they can thrive.
Plager added during the first year of the program it was very positive and similar to this year being full.
“We had extra people that we had to turn away unfortunately,” Plager added. “Last year with COVID, the numbers were down a little bit. Wayne Legacy Fund supporting us has helped us through that because that was a financial burden last year with lower numbers. So, their support has really helped this go.”
Future funding that will assist the Kid’s Club will be ESSER III funding being the COVID Relief Act.
The group will continue to look to improve as they grow their partnership with Wayne State College with field experiences.
“So, we’re looking to get a lot of hands working with our kids,” Plager mentioned. “A lot of one-on-one support and continue to expand our STAEM programming, science, technology, art, engineering and math. We want to expand that and continue to improve our instruction there.”
The vision of the Wayne Area Legacy Fund is to foster collaborative relationships between education, agriculture, healthcare and commerce to promote a bright, fun, prosperous future.
For more information on Wayne Community Schools, visit wayneschools.org or view nebcommfound.org/give/wayne-area-legacy-fund to donate to the Wayne Area Legacy Fund.
