Today, on Education Counts Michiana, Page the Puppy reading program, becoming bendable in South Bend, tuition free adult scholarship at Lake Michigan College, the South Bend Empowerment Zone.

Education Counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.

Investing in education and economic development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana region.

Community Foundation of Elkhart County.

Inspire good.

Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where donor dreams shine.

The Dekko Foundation.

Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, LeGrange County Community Foundation, NIPSCO, the Beim Foundation, United Way of Elkhart County, United Way of St. Joseph County, Marshall County Community Foundation.

Ready to Grow St. Joe Early Childhood Coalition and a Gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.

Welcome to Education Counts Michiana.

I'm your host, Sam Centellas, Education Counts highlights programs and initiatives that are impacting how we teach, how we learn and how we embrace education.

This program explores ideas in all education sectors preschool through lifelong learning, K-12 post-high school and job advancement training with the philosophy that we should never stop seeking knowledge.

Find additional resources at WNIT.org and on the Education Counts Facebook page.

First up, reading with a pal.

Crossroads United Way designed a reading initiative to engage families and help improve the skill development of preschool children.

Page The Puppy is the star of a series of four bilingual books in English and Spanish.

Incoming kindergartners at Goshen community schools receive books and activity kits to encourage reading.

Starting kindergarten can be a nerve wracking experience for our little ones and their parents, but our friends at Crossroads United Way want to ease any stress or anxiety by introducing families to a new friend named Page the puppy.

But first, they have to bring her to life.

In Elkhart County, we were told there was research done and some tests done that fifty per cent of the children entering kindergarten weren't ready.

They did not have the skills necessary to be successful in kindergarten.

And that was just unacceptable to me as a previous educator and that just--I said we have to do something.

So we were out on a hunt for something that would work countywide and that could be scalable and would get children excited about learning and going to school.

So we came across another United Way that does something similar at a conference and we came back and got to work on it.

Goshen schools decided to collaborate with us on this, and that's how the whole project started.

For Goshen, It is super vital because we want to promote that reading.

Reading is such an essential tool to not just kindergarten, but just to start the career, the school career for any student.

And the more you read, the more--the more you know and the more you grow as a reader.

And that's what we promote in Goshen schools.

Page the puppy is just going to be a good place to start as seeing a figure that is going to be fun, cute, cuddly.

And they're going to connect that with reading and they're just going to do it more.

So it's going to be super important with that.

Along with Page, they get a bag full of goodies and a few of her books to help get them on the right track before school starts for them.

Page's list of top ten skills helps aid in this process by making sure that everyone is reached with their books also being available in dual languages.

This year, because of covid, some of our efforts were limited.

But parents, families got bags which have activities, hands on activities for children and resources for families that they could do with their children at home in order to build these ten skills for the kids.

And today they're building their own Page, just like a Build-A-Bear workshop to give the children that experience.

And this could be even a comfort toy for them when they're going into-- becoming back to school as the first day of kindergarten.

The bag also includes four books which have adventures of Page where Page goes out in town and meets new people, or has adventures that kind of lead to building up those skills that they needed in kindergarten.

Knowing that Goshen has a huge Hispanic population, we decided to translate all the books in Spanish.

And so all the books and all the reading, even the parent tips the ten skills required.

Everything is translated in Spanish.

So there's English and Spanish in the same books.

And that way it also makes children more aware of the different types of print.

It teaches them to the non Spanish speakers.

It is also beneficial seeing something written in a different language and just raises awareness.

So it's beneficial to all children, whether they speak English or Spanish or both.

Based on responses, it seems like parents and even grandparents see value in this pre-kindergarten Experience.

It's really nice because, like, she was kind of like, iffy like, oh, I don't want to go to school, I'm going to be scared.

And then like she found out about this and usually she sleeps in.

And today she was just like, oh, it's kindergarten blastoff day.

I'm like, OK, you're excited?

So it's really exciting to know that they do this for the incoming kindergartners who don't know much about school yet.

I think it's cool because kids like to do that.

We took them for, like, Build-A-Bear, not him, but the other ones.

And they love doing it and he's enjoying doing this.

So this is the first time he's gotten to do make his own puppy.

My first child, they didn't do this.

And I think it's really awesome that they get to keep something like the puppy and enjoy and making their own experience.

It makes me really happy that the kids can learn a new language and also--learn a new language and stay with their home language.

With him, he's shy and timid, and he's not open to new things.

He gets nervous and everything.

And I think what's helping open up a little more.

Nonetheless, Crossroads United Way wants families to know that they're here for them and their children's education because education is a lifelong experience.

So United Way fights for health, education and financial stability for every individual.

And,to me, education begins at birth.

I know this is not a project for at birth, but education begins at birth and the first five years of a child's life are so important for their brain development and learning soft skills and just being.

It's the foundation for--for the rest of their lives.

So, it's so important that we provide them with high-quality experiences, whether it be in the community, in a preschool, in a formal setting or at home or anywhere in the community.

So that'-- that's where my passion is, is education.

Learn more about Page the Puppy at WNIT.org.

Bending your mind.

There's a new program to the St. Joseph County Public Library that can help stretch your imagination.

Bendable is a multimedia platform where adults can learn anything from starting a business to learning parenting skills and so much more.

We take a look at how bendable has grown since it first launched.

Bendable is a platform both physical and digital that is designed to enhance resilience through lifelong learning, giving people the opportunity to engage in high quality learning resources sourced from both national digital content provider partners like ADEX and Pen Foster and Study.com, Khan Academy as well, but also local learning partners like Ivy Tech, IUSB, the Library, South Bend Parks and Arts, even.

We have about a one to one ratio of national and local content providers.

We launched in June of 2020, so kind of mid covid.

But since we've launched, we've actually been able to add a lot more of the community element.

So we've had a lot more community collections expanding our library in that sense.

And then we've also had more partnerships with community partners.

And so that's essentially where we work with community organizations and that's everything from a neighborhood group to a local employer to just a local nonprofit where they can essentially curate their own corner of Bendable, that--with content that serves their constituents.

But Bendable isn't like other learning platforms.

What sets Bendable apart is that the people you're learning from are actually members of the community.

The most interesting things that we found out throughout our kind of research and design phase was how big of a role relationships play in learning.

And so part of what we want to do is show people from our community that there are experts that live next door.

And so the community collections, we ask residents of South Bend to share their expertise and share the way that they learned.

You know, not everybody learns by sitting through a course or going through an online course.

Some people learn by amassing a collection of--of articles and books and YouTube videos and TED talks.

Drecker Institute started hosting these community--community feedback meetings.

And so I was one of the members of the community feedback meetings.

And so every so often we would all meet at the library and it was an assortment of different people all from different backgrounds who different--do different work in the community.

And we would give our feedback of the things that we're seeing and the things that we're learning from our community members that South Bend is interested in learning.

We have a librarian who works with the League of Women Voters.

She's a member of the League of Women Voters, and she had one of her fellow librarians reach out to me through--from Bendable, who asked me if we knew of anybody who might be able to contribute a collection on the Bendable platform talking about voting.

And after having some consultation with some friends and fellow board members, we decided that I might be the best person to think about putting a community collection on the Bendable platform.

And there's a reason why people find themselves better able to learn from someone they either know or recognize.

There's a level of trust that is generated.

And so I think people tend to--whether it is get ideas or listen to people who are friends and who are neighbors and someone who maybe frequent the same grocery store that we--that we frequent.

And so I think there is a--there's something to be said about--about that.

And I think that's one of the hallmarks of this--this program that makes it very successful.

I think it's amazing that Bendable gives people in the community an opportunity to learn from one another.

I appreciate the Bendable platform itself because it's members of our community and getting to not only learn from one another, but share their experiences and share what their knowledge about any particular subject is with other members of the community.

What I found from looking at the platform has been learning about other skills or resources that are out there that I maybe didn't previously know I would be interested in learning.

But because it's there and because it has a friendly face as a picture next to the story there, then it gives me--it makes it more inviting for me to to be able to pursue that natural curiosity that I feel like we all have.

Bendable is more than just a way to learn about a subject area.

It's meant to help people navigate a constantly changing world.

In a kind of fast changing economy and an economy that's based on knowledge work, everybody would have to continue to learn even past, you know, high school, bachelor's degree, associate's degree, even advanced degrees.

In order to stay relevant in this fast changing economy, you have to continue to learn.

Find out more at WNIT.org.

Empowered for success.

The South Bend Empowerment Zone is an organization that identifies improvements that need to be made towards a child's education.

They do so by providing much needed love, support and empowerment, not only to the students, but also to the families of the students who attend their schools.

The South Bend Empowerment Zone aims to improve the educational quality for children and their families through love, support and academics.

Their mission is to nurture the overall well-being of the children in their communities.

Empowerment Zone is of five schools.

That is Coquillard, Harrison, Navarre, Wilson and Warren.

And what I love about the Empowerment Zone is that we put our students and our families first and all that we do.

As a matter of fact, one of the first policies that was created for the Empowerment Zone School is to make sure that our families were put first, meaning that whatever needs that they have, anything such as needing food, shelter, assistance with wi-fi that could benefit students or to help them learn.

So I love the Empowerment Zone because this is the first school that I've been at where we focus on educating the child as a whole.

So academics, of course, is very important to us and we strive to have the students be excellent in whatever they do.

And that means, like, doing their personal best.

But as equally important as academics is the well-being of our students.

So their social-emotional growth, we focus on how they respond to their emotions and their feelings as well as their academics.

So we really try to mesh that together.

And I think that gives the children a more well-rounded education.

I've always been a champion of public education, so I love the fact that we are public schools in South Bend, Indiana, and I love working with children.

I was an individual who essentially was inspired by a teacher, by a coach and by a principal.

And that was essentially what helped me transform some of my perceptions of what would essentially allow me to have an impact in the community.

So I love being with students.

I love collaborating with teachers.

I love collaborating with administrators.

And I want to make sure that we're working together to again bring this reality of transforming student outcomes for first and into reality.

The empowerment zone has numerous benefits for our community, with one of them being the care that they put into implementing ways of best serving our families.

There are many benefits.

So, number one is that we're a small cohort of schools.

So, our Zone chief has developed a strategic plan for those five schools, right?

We call ourselves the Empowerment Zone Family because every child that enters our classrooms, that enters our schools receives that individualized attention and support.

The second thing is also that we are really piloting and scaling this aspect of building a restorative student center school environment.

And by that I mean that we have doubled the number of social workers that we have in our schools.

So we need to make sure that we're looking at serving the whole child.

And part of that is making sure that not only are we addressing the academic needs, but that were also addressing the immediate basic needs of our families.

The other thing is that we have really infused restorative justice.

So we look at discipline more from a behavior support stance.

Right.

It's not about punishing our students when they deviate from some of the expected behaviors, but about really supporting them and ensuring that we address the root cause of what is causing those behaviors.

The other element is that we're a very collaborative school environment.

You see a lot of our teachers collaborating, talking to one another, not only in the same grade level, in the same department, but also across grade levels.

There is a lot of collaboration that happens between our middle school and also our elementary school so that we can make sure that we're preparing our fifth graders to be ready for middle school.

Another element is that we have very specialized curricula that we have implemented.

And I know that some of our principals have--have and will discuss some of the curricula that we've implemented.

And then the other thing, too, is that we launched this--this program called Peacebuilders.

Right?

So we want to make sure that whenever a child or any of our children are experiencing any kind of social-emotional dysregulation or imbalance, they have school champions to be able to--to talk to them and encourage them.

And that's where the Peacebuilders model came in as part of our team to make sure that our students have someone that they can talk to him, de-escalate the situation and then get them right back into the classroom.

So there's multifaceted elements of what makes us very unique.

And part of it is our approach, right?

That we're looking at the child, the whole child, but then also trying to engage the family to make sure that we're addressing both academic and behavioral support for students.

So we are really impacting the lives of our families and our students.

We do a survey now once a month to find out what our family's needs are, what their expectations from the school is, and just to meet them where they are.

And once we get that data, that information from families who are able to assist in areas that are much needed.

So we began to stay laser focused on meeting the needs of our families and our students.

And when I look at the data, I see growth.

And it may not be the growth that we were, you know, that we were hoping to get because we always hope high.

But its growth and seeing growth even during this time, the pandemic, it's a celebration.

It's worth a celebration because that means that our students are there learning and the changes and modifications that we've made were beneficial to students.

But it's not just the students who are reaping the benefits of the empowerment zone.

The community gets to share their gifts and talents with our students because our students they're right now.

But they're also the future.

They will be the ones in the community taking care of people and, you know, basically running the show in the future.

So us as a community, we have to pour back into them right now so that they'll be able to--we'll be able to reap the benefits of what our students are learning right now by giving back to them.

Learn more about programs in education at WNIT.org.

Tuition free scholarship for adults, life never stops moving and finding time and money to go back to school as an adult isn't easy.

The state of Michigan launched the Michigan Reconnect Scholarship Program.

Eligible Michigan adults are able to take courses at schools like Lake Michigan College for no cost.

For many adults, getting a college degree comes down to time and cost.

To help alleviate those worries, Michigan launched its Michigan Reconnect program.

Reconnect is a state funded program for residents of Michigan who have lived there for at least one year, have graduated high school or completed a high school equivalency such as a GED.

And then as long as they're over the age of twenty five, they would be eligible to apply and receive funding for tuition and fees at a community college.

One of those community colleges participating in the program is Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor.

This program really came right on the tails of another state program that we've talked about in the front liner's program.

And so the state prior to the pandemic had passed legislation to approve a program called Reconnect that we knew was somewhere in the pipeline.

And then funding was not available because we were trying to make sure we got the state through a pandemic.

So we all got put on hold and we're waiting to see what was going to happen next.

And then as the budget for the next fiscal year came out, the state was able to add that budget back in to provide for Reconnect.

And so in late 2020, we started to hear that Reconnect was ready to go and that the application process would be opening essentially as the application for Front Liners was ending.

So it was a nice transition for us.

We had something very similar.

We had kind of started to build the processes and learn how to manage the financial aid and the--the steps to enrollment for students in these programs.

And so as we heard about it and got going, it was a little bit easier to get off the ground.

The next step for interested and eligible adults is filling out the application.

It's a pretty straightforward, easy application to complete.

They're just really trying to make sure you're meeting those requirements and have an understanding of what your goals and plans are as you enroll and what else is going on in your life to make sure that we can provide appropriate supports if you're trying to work in and go to school at the same time, maybe talking about how that will balance.

And so really a nice, easy process for the student coming in.

And the applications at Lake Michigan College have been rolling in since the launch of Michigan Reconnect.

As an institution, we have two hundred and fifteen students who have already been accepted to Reconnect, which is a great number.

It's not quite the number that we saw for front liners, but because this program is built to last in perpetuity, students don't feel that pressure to do it right now or not be able to get it.

They can think about where it fits in their life, when they should really utilize it and be able to make a plan instead of having that kind of urgency that was created with front liners where we had a December 31 2020 deadline.

Right now, our summer applications are up by about forty percent.

So we are seeing students come in and have interest in this program and really want to take advantage of it.

We're seeing them also complete more of the enrollment steps early on.

So we're seeing students who have already completed their federal financial aid application.

They've already made sure that their placement for their first semester of courses is in place so that they can be ready to register.

Getting an advanced degree can open many doors for a person in their future career.

And the Michigan Reconnect program is working to make sure people can find that success without worrying about the cost.

We're moving more and more to a place where the economy, the culture of the work that we're doing requires some of that advanced training and looking at where we're headed and needing closer to seventy five percent of our workforce having a post secondary credential really means that we need to give opportunities for students to earn that college education and be able to advance those skills.

And so these programs are giving those opportunities without the burden that may have been there in the past of having to try and figure out how to balance not only work in a family and then add in the cost, it became a daunting task.

And now that we have an opportunity to just think about, OK, can I balance school and everything else in my life, but the cost is taken care of just makes that one less barrier to allow people to get there.

Check out WNIT.org for more information on all these stories.

Thank you for joining us on Education Council Michiana.

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The success of every student matters.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Education counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon band of Potawatomi.

Investing in education and economic development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana region.

Community Foundation of Elkhart County.

Inspire good.

Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where donor dreams shine.

The Dekko Foundation, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, LeGrange County Community Foundation, NIPSCO, the Beim Foundation, United Way of Elkhart County, United Way of St. Joseph County.

Marshall County Community Foundation.

Ready to Grow st. Joe Early Childhood Coalition and a Gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.