‘They understand us’: Explorer Middle students dig ‘The Club’
Published 1:30 am Saturday, March 17, 2018
EVERETT — Genyha Jones likes the way it works.
You can be friends with everyone, but you don’t HAVE to be friends with everyone, she said.
There are no chores. And, as her friend Summer DeLong pointed out, no siblings.
The sixth-graders take part in “The Club,” an after-school program that started last fall at Explorer Middle School. The Club makes room for all students, whether they want to shoot baskets, do their math homework or just fiddle with their phones.
What’s important is they’re together, they’re safe and they’re having fun, said Andre Graham, the director of the South Everett/Mukilteo Boys & Girls Club on Casino Road.
“Anything that keeps them moving, where they can be loud and they can be free,” he said. “They just want to play and be themselves and be middle-schoolers.”
The Club at Explorer is a partnership between the Boys & Girls Club and the Mukilteo School District. It ties into the larger efforts of community groups around south Everett who are working together to help young people, said Mike Neumeister, area director for the Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County.
The Boys & Girls Club also is playing a role in Mayor Cassie Franklin’s anti-gang initiative, he said.
For middle-schoolers, the hours between 3 and 6 p.m. are especially important, Assistant Principal Kristi Queen said.
“They’re vulnerable during that time to influences that may not be the most healthy,” she said. “Middle school kids still need adult supervision and role models and guidance and structure and help navigating through peer conflict.”
They’re also hungry. Graham always tries to bring food, which the school helps coordinate.
On Wednesday, it was a choice between pizza and a Fanta float. Graham also stops by campus at lunchtime several days a week. “We’re just hanging out, building relationships,” he said.
He knows whose sports season went well and who swiped a few Twizzlers from his bucket. The Club sees dozens of attendees, but organizers would like it to keep growing, he said. Hundreds of Explorer students are members of the Casino Road branch, but others don’t have transportation. This provides a closer option.
Graham and the other mentors use their life experiences to connect with students. He’s a bodybuilder. Elijah Jordan does martial arts.
And someone has to be good at math, for the sake of sixth-grader Francisca Angon.
“I ask for help, and they’re all helping me,” she said.
Eight-grader Miguel Hernandez had been looking for something new. He was in the math-soccer club, which awarded completed math assignments with soccer time, but it lost its adviser. He asked his parents if he could join The Club.
The mentors do a good job, he said. They know kids make mistakes, and how to respond.
“They’re fun. They’re like us,” he said. “They understand us.”
For Jones, her after-school plans used to be “sit on my couch and eat food and play on my phone,” she said.
Here, “we get to run around and dance to music,” she said.
“It’s a fun place to be,” DeLong said.
“Yeah, it’s an energetic place,” Jones said.
“Like a family,” DeLong said.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.
Learn more
The Boys & Girls Club runs The Club at Explorer Middle School. Volunteer mentors are needed, as well as donations of snacks and supplies. For more information, call 425-355-6899.
