CCLC enters final year

PRIEST RIVER — The 21st Century Community Learning Center at Priest River Lamanna High School has entered its fifth and final year of the of the grant for the program.

Unfortunately, said program director Cherie Coldwell, there will not be a grant competition this year through the State Department of Education.

“There isn’t enough funding for it, which means that I can’t apply for a new grant,” Coldwell told West Bonner County School District trustees last Wednesday. “So I am really bummed to say that this is going to be it for the program.”

The program offers tutoring and other academic enrichment opportunities to students in the district, grades seven-12, four days a week during non-school hours.

Coldwell said the district can apply for a grant again next year to resume the following year, though she hopes to find a way to sustain the program through outside funding and volunteers.

Much of the more than $100,000 grant money funds staff salaries and mentors for the program, and all of the supplies and equipment she has purchased with the funds over the years will stay in the district.

“But, in the meantime, I am determined to make this the best year possible and hopefully get our numbers up so that if you do want to revisit the grant, you can show that the final year we really did have a lot of participation from the kids,” Coldwell said.

In addition to science, math, English and Spanish labs, the program offers metal working, art, a game club, wooden fishing lures, Kung Fu and more.

There are a few new additions this year, including a writer’s workshop, where Coldwell said the students will be given a pre-illustrated book. PRLHS English teacher Brenda Davisson will assist them in writing a story.

“At the end of that, they will have a published hardcover, beautifully illustrated book that they can hold in their own hands,” Coldwell said. “What we are going to do is donate those to the libraries.”

To demonstrate the process and the end result, Coldwell said she and Davisson recently wrote the first book.

Also new this year, she said, is a cybersecurity competition class. The cybersecurity competition is a competition among the kids where they act as IT professionals, Coldwell said. Each is given a schematic where they look at a company’s vulnerabilities to make sure that they are not going to be vulnerable to things like hacking. They compete at the state level, and if they do well, they will go on to regionals. If they do “really well,” Coldwell said they will be invited with an all-expenses paid trip to Baltimore to compete nationally.

Another new and “fun” thing Coldwell said is on the schedule this year is a drone lab. She is trying to sell it to the kids, she said, as a pathway to a job once they graduate.

“You don’t necessarily need a college degree and the applications are pretty widespread,” she said.

“They use it a lot in agriculture and fighting fires … so they are going to be learning how to build and code, as well as fly the drones.”

The final “fun and really exciting” thing Coldwell talked about is a partnership with the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint. A retired conductor who recently moved to Priest River is working through the grant with the conservatory to put a string ensemble at the high school, Coldwell said. The class is free to the students as the grant is covering the cost of the instrument rentals, so they will learn to play the viola, violin or cello. If at the end of the year they progress far enough, they will be invited to join the youth symphony in Sandpoint, Coldwell said.

“That’s, I think, going to be a really exciting program for the kids, and hopefully it’s something that they can continue next year,” Coldwell said.

Information on 21st Century Learning Centers can be found at sde.idaho.gov. Registration forms and other information can be found on the high school’s website at lam.sd83.org.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.