The Trenton Times published the following article on November 4, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
Trenton middle schools add extracurricular activities to engage students
By Jenna Pizzi/The Times of Trenton
on November 04, 2013 at 6:40 AM, updated November 04, 2013 at 6:41 AMTRENTON — More students are sinking baskets and picking out tunes on instruments in the district’s middle schools this fall, as teachers experiment with extracurricular offerings as a way to keep kids interested in school.
“I feel that it was necessary to have a variety of options,” said Bernadette Trapp, principal at Rivera middle school. “When it comes to middle school, we have to recognize that middle school students are social beings. This is when they are really starting to develop into their own person.”
Since high school is when the dropout rate begins to soar, educators in Trenton are using students’ middle school enthusiasm to hook them on academics.
Trapp said at her school efforts have been made to start up a chorus club, an art club, debate team, dance and performing arts, cooking activities, and a school newspaper to meet before or after school.
And, she said, it’s working.
“The kids are just excited to be a part of it,” Trapp said.
The district reconfigured its schools this year, and the middle schools went from two to four individual schools, one in each of the city wards, and funding was beefed up to help with the extracurricular idea.
The middle school students will have the ability to participate in more sports — including soccer, swimming, cheerleading and baseball this year — and each middle school principal was allocated an amount, which varied depending on the size of the school, to spend on afterschool programs like clubs and music.
Superintendent Francisco Duran has previously said by engaging the middle school students, who are usually between the ages of 11 and 14, the district will be able to lower the high dropout rate in high school.