Thursday was a normal afternoon for students at Rockingham Housing Authority’s 21st Century Community Learning Center.

Math and reading were the emphasis, and fun was a side effect, as students tackled homework, then played learning games and met in small groups and clubs.

“(This program) helps me do my homework,” seventh grader Derrick Green said over his math book. “If I have any questions I can ask somebody and they’ll help me.”

He added that having time set aside to do his homework helps him to maintain a schedule and get all his work done and turned in.

“If you need help with your math, or your science, or mostly anything, they help you get it done,” sixth grader C.J. Brewington said.

The program meets after school Monday through Thursday at the Falling Creek Park, located behind the Leak Street High School. Bruce Stanback is the director, in addition to serving as Richmond County Board of Education’s Chairman.

He said the Community Learning Center serves around 45 or 50 students every day it meets, and is funded through a federal grant.

This means it is free of cost to the parents of the students that participate, and the only requirement is that students have a level one or two on their reading or math scores from end-of-grade testing.

End-of-grade tests are scored in four tiers. One and two are considered below proficiency, while threes and fours are considered proficient.

“We have a lot of students to come through here that may have made a four on their math scores, but had a one on their reading,” Stanback said. “They still qualify to participate, but the emphasis is on learning. Everything is geared towards raising reading and math scores on the end-of-grade testing.”

He described the daily routine of the program.

“The first hour is homework time, they break up into groups and a teacher is with every group to help them,” he pointed to one side of the gym. “This is our second and third graders, that’s typically the largest group.”

Patricia Clemmons is an academic coach at Ashley Chapel Elementary, and she was assisting some of the second and third graders with their homework.

She pointed out the progress the students have made through their afternoon studies, especially one of her male students.

“Last year, he was real immature and you had to literally sit beside him and make him do his work,” she recalled. “This year, he’s Mr. Independent. He does all his work, and brought in a progress report with all A’s and B’s. Last year, it was C’s, D’s and U’s.”

“Another success story we had was with one of the older kids,” Program Coordinator Hazel Robinson said. “He used to come in here with his hood pulled over his head, and just sit on the bleachers and he wouldn’t socialize.”

She said the student would follow instructions, but that was all, until he began participating in role-playing exercises at the program.

“You could see that this was something he liked,” she said. “He ended up winning an award for citizenship and was in a play called ‘Monsters Under the Bed’ at the community theater.”

Irene Waddell is a Scotland County teacher who also works with the learning center.

“I love this program,” she said. “It helps students who are from a low socio-economic background, and wouldn’t be able to get help with their homework at home. We’ve had parents tell us that the math is very difficult for them, and some have said they need help with Algebra.”

After homework time, Stanback said the students gather for about a 15 minute assembly, and break off into classes that include music, physical education, computer literacy and life skills.

The P.E. class was playing a multiplication game, where a bottle is put in the middle of the basketball floor, and students line up on the baseline underneath each basket.

A number is called out, and students have to be the first to do the multiplication problem, and then to sprint to the middle of the court and grab the bottle.

“This makes learning fun,” Stanback said. “Another emphasis of the program is also to keep students active and moving around, so that they have healthy bodies and minds.”

Students drummed in the music class, and in the computer lab students utilized the laptops with wireless Internet service for research and recreation.

Stanback said the program uses several innovative approaches to engage students.

“We have a banking program,” he said. “In that, doing homework, having good behavior, getting good grades, almost everything has money attached to it.”

Students are rewarded with “real money,” the equivalent of monopoly money, for participation and academic success. They get $250 a week, and discretionary amounts from teachers for achievement.

“There are a couple of different things they can spend the money on,” Stanback said. “The most important of those is the incentive trips. We take field trips and they have to have at least $1,500 of real money to participate.”

He said that the program also holds an auction for students before Christmas and at the end of the year, where they can bid on items ranging from toys to toiletries to gifts for parents.

Their last trip was to the Discovery Place in Charlotte, and they’ve traveled to Atlanta in the past.

Saleemah Brown and Keyvana Robinson said the banking system helps to motivate them to do well.

“We get to go on field trips if we have enough money,” Brown said.

“We love to buy stuff at the auction, that way we don’t have to do it at home,” Robinson said.

Brown also pointed out the monthly pizza parties students participate in as motivation to do well.

“A lot of (the students in this program) end up making the A or B Honor Roll,” Brown said.

After these elective classes, students break off into their clubs.

Brown is in the cooking and sewing club, while Robinson is in the drumming club.

“This is dropout prevention,” Stanback said. “It’s engaging kids while they’re young, so that hopefully they’ll stay engaged. Anytime you can get kids interested in learning, and get them having fun, that’s a good thing.”

“Another aspect of this program is parental involvement,” Stanback said. “We hold a series of parent workshops, that are designed to help them with financial management, job seeking skills and different ways they can work with their kids to improve their grades.”

He said the next parent workshop is scheduled for Feb. 6.

Green said that he currently has $526 in his account.

“At the end, we’re going to do something special, so I’m saving up,” he said.