Local Kids Gearing Up

Some local kids are spending time after school gearing up.

Grover Cleveland Middle School is teaming up with with the Muskingum County Community Foundation for the Gear Up After School Program.

This is the fIfth year of the program, which aims to help students with their learning.

"It’s a good mixture of all the learning stuff and the fun stuff too," said After School Program Coordinator Doug Devor. "We keep the kid’s interest with the fun stuff, but we keep the parents interested with the learning."

Mondays and Wednesdays, students are exposed to special career-oriented speakers and club opportunities. Tuesdays and Thursdays they work with teachers on their homework and prepare for standardized testing.

"We have 35 kids this year, we had a few more last year, but kids talk highly of the program," he said. "They say we want to join gear up, I hear that all the time, walking into the classrooms. The kids like it, the parents think pretty highly of it too, it’s one of the better after school programs."

A similar program works with high school students at Zanesville High School. Devor says the program is funded federally and is unique because it is open to anyone in either school.

For more information on the program, contact Doug Devor at 453-5192.