Click Here to download the 2020-2021 REFUGES online afterschool program application.

The 2020-2021 REFUGES Afterschool Program runs virtually from September 14, 2020 – May 30, 2020.

While online, we provided these courses and activities during the coronavirus pandemic to students in the REFUGES Afterschool Program. We created a Canvas course and Zoom course for each of the following enrichment courses that were offered online during the coronavirus pandemic:

1. TOP Club, instructed by Planned Parenthood Association of Utah is a Teen Outreach Program that teaches social and emotional learning for teens in high school. During the time your child will spend in the Teen Outreach group, young people will explore their own growth and development, their goals for the future, and their goals for close and productive relationships with others. This program has been evaluated nationally and has shown very positive results for young people. This unique program will involve your child in volunteer work in the community. This work may occur off school grounds. The program promotes progress in school and avoidance of behaviors which may hinder your child’s most successful growth and achievement. During this program students will participate in 12 classes while serving 20 hours of service to the community. Students in TOP Club have participated in projects with the U.S. Food Bank, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, United Way of Salt Lake City, Utah Naloxone, Promise South Salt Lake, and the Asian Association of Utah in a variety of hands-on projects. Students in TOP Club will also create a community mobilization project, which is a project that will be shared with partners and community members addressing a challenge that the community faces and solutions to overcome that challenge. This year, students decided to make a video addressing public health safety during the pandemic.
2. Get Real Prevention, instructed by Planned Parenthood Association of Utah is a comprehensive sex education curriculum that guides middle school and highschool students through a variety of courses on sexuality such as sexual and reproductive anatomy, gender and sexual identity, prevention of SDIs and STDs, social media sexuality, and teen pregnancy prevention. Students will also complete an awareness project at the end of the course that will address one of these topics and connect it to their local communities.
3. ACT Prep: During this course, which is taught by a University of Utah instructor, will include 6 weeks of indepth ACT practice where students will have strategies to answer ACT questions, time-management for the ACT, best practices to navigate the ACT, and familiarize themselves with the ACT. Through these, students have been able to drastically increase their ACT score.
4. The College Preparedness program is designed to provide students with all the skills and materials necessary to be prepared to apply and attend college while actively searching for scholarships. Currently, students in the REFUGES program will have the opportunity to work with a University of Utah advisor who will help guide them through each step of the college preparation process. Through this program, students will learn how to navigate and apply for FAFSA, discover and apply for scholarships, apply for colleges, set goals, and write their personal statements. During the course of this enrichment, students will be supported by tutors that will work with them and edit their papers while providing significant feedback back to students.
5. ALEKS Math Programming is our math programming that we provided for students online. Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn’t know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn. As a student works through a course, ALEKS periodically reassesses the student to ensure that topics learned are also retained. ALEKS courses are very complete in their topic coverage and ALEKS avoids multiple-choice questions. A student who shows a high level of mastery of an ALEKS course will be successful in the actual course they are taking.
6. Tutoring Each day that students attend the REFUGES Program they will receive tutoring and academic support or intervention. Students would receive instructional tutoring online through Zoom for an hour each day unless further tutoring was needed then students can request additional time with a tutor. The REFUGES program has 10 skilled tutors that specialize in various areas of academia including the math and sciences. Tutors are assigned to students based on the students academic needs and will check in with those students weekly about their grades, missing work, and progress on goals that have been set together. Tutors would utilize Zoom breakout rooms to divide students based on their academic needs and areas that they need help with. Goal monitoring takes place throughout the semester to ensure that all students are on track for success.
7. Families Talking Together Curriculum will be implemented in the spring of 2020. Families Talking Together is a parent-based intervention to prevent and/or reduce sexual risk behavior among Latino and African American adolescents. The program is offered in Spanish, English, or with an interpreter/translator. The main components of the intervention are parent discussions with an interventionist and a family workbook designed to teach parents effective communication skills, build parent-adolescent relationships, help parents develop successful monitoring strategies, and teach adolescents assertiveness and refusal skills. The program can be delivered to parents either individually or in small group sessions, in a range of settings.

Saturday Program (grades 10-12):

The Saturday Program includes college preparation activities (ACT preparation workshops and support with FAFSA, scholarship applications, and college applications), support for healthy development, prevention education, and community involvement; a snack/light meal during program time.

• Students enrolled in the Saturday program will attend activities at the Refugee Education and Training Center (3900 S 250 W) from 2:30-5:30pm on Saturdays.
• Parents (one parent/guardian for each student) are expected to attend prevention education at the Refugee Education and Training Center (3900 S 250 W). They will meet on four different Saturdays, and each meeting will last one hour.