January 10, 2023
City Academy strives to not only provide a challenging curriculum during the school day, but to offer several opportunities for enrichment and growth outside of the classroom during our Extended Day Program. The Extended Day Program is provided at no extra cost, and allows students to arrive as early as 7:00 a.m. and leave as late as 6:00 p.m. This is particularly helpful to working parents that are not able to pick their children up at 3:30 p.m. when the school day ends.
In addition to providing a safe place for students to spend time before and after school, we have many different options of clubs and activities that the students love, put together by Kimberli Wilson, Director of the Summer and Extended Day Program. The activities allow students to step outside of their comfort zone and explore different options. “I started these programs to give the kids a different experience because there is so much out there in the world to learn from,” Wilson said. While some of City Academy’s full-time teachers help with extended day, Wilson has her own staff that comes in from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. to make sure students are meeting the expectations she has in place to become successful.
During the first semester, activities included:
- Juicing — A smoothie making club
- STAGES — Acting classes, culminating in a performance of Annie Jr.
- Tennis — Provided by Breakpoint Tennis & Life Skills Academy at the new tennis courts at Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club
- Karate — Provided by iKarate Club
- Secure the Bag — Entrepreneurship Club
- Sports Club
- Hispanic Cooking
- SSAT Prep — Prepares 6th graders for secondary school entrance exams
- Beginning Baking
- Homework Club
- Dance Club
- Drama Club
- Choir
- Girl Scouts
Hispanic Cooking and STAGES are two programs that students particularly loved this year. Hispanic Cooking is taught by Eli Rivera, Upper School Spanish Teacher.“I chose to bring my culture to the City Academy Extended Day Program because of my love for cooking,” she said. Rivera teaches students the traditions of the Hispanic culture, what they eat, how they eat things and when they eat certain foods. The students get the chance to cook the items themselves and of course enjoy the tasty food when it’s done.
Although the STAGES production of Annie Jr. was not directed by City Academy’s Music Teacher Laren Loveless, he had a huge part to play. City Academy has had a long-term partnership with STAGES St. Louis, with many memorable performances held over the years in our gym. Unfortunately, COVID prevented those performances from happening since 2019. When COVID restrictions started to lift, Loveless contacted STAGES St. Louis to see what they could do in order to get City Academy students involved with what he feels opens their personality up the most. “I’ve seen kids thrive with this program,” Loveless said. “Students are able to be themselves, but also open up another door to a new person that I can see in them that they might not.”
Loveless took the initiative to select kids that did not originally sign up, and he helped them practice lines and learn the songs that would be in the play. In the end, 24 of our students in 3rd-6th grade took the stage, performing more than 10 songs in an hour-long show. Both Rivera and Loveless are two remarkable teachers that love sharing their passions with the City Academy students that they care so deeply about.
— Story by Jared Thomas, Communications Intern