February 12, 2001

PARTICIPANTS in Buckner's after-school program in Longview find love and acceptance there among friends and workers.

In Longview, Buckner works to make STARS
of middle-schoolers needing after-school care
___By Russ Dilday
___Buckner News Service
___LONGVIEW--The dozen middle school-aged students balance nervously on a thin bridge suspended over molten lava. Each has a specific mission: Arrange themselves by name in alphabetical order along the narrow bridge--without falling.
___One of the students, Latosha, slips and falls into the superheated magma.
___Everyone laughs.
___You can do that when it's a game, your bridge is a piece of masking tape and the lava is the carpet on the floor.
___It's another day of fun and learning at STARS, an after-school program in Longview operated by Buckner Children and Family Services of Northeast Texas. Students come for the fun and to get tutoring help with their schoolwork. They leave also knowing a little more about life.
___That's the plan, said Sheila Arnold, who leads STARS, an acronym for Students Teaching and Reaching. The program seeks to provide a setting where improving social skills and building faith receive equal billing with boosting academics.
___The program uses a combination of tutoring, activities, faith, field trips and games to teach participants communication and life skills, said Arnold, director of community services for Buckner in Northeast Texas.
___"We are trying to build the assets and the foundation that they will need through the adult years," she said. "This is not an academic program per se. Our goal is to provide these kids with a fun, safe place to go after school, where their parents know we are going to care for them."
___Leadership is an important ingredient in the program because many of the children come from difficult circumstances, she said. "They all are lacking in social skills, but they are hidden leaders. The more we pull them out of where they are, the more potential we see in them and they see in themselves."
___Meeting in a downtown building provided by First Baptist Church, participants eat a snack and interact during games and activities before working on homework. But all of that often takes a back seat to fun.
___"It's fun, with all of the fun games and all the field trips," said Quentus, 13. "We play putt-putt golf. We go bowling. We go swimming. Just having fun."
___But, he added, "They help us make good grades. They help us with our work, especially with spelling. They have this spelling game that we have to play. There is no getting out of that unless you're dying."
___Arnold added that faith also is a key ingredient in the STARS program. "We pray with them. We teach them how to pray before we eat. We do Bible study with them. We talk about who Jesus is and how we're saved. All of the foundations of this program are built on biblical principles."
___The result is a feeling of belonging among participants. Recognizing that this is his last year in the program, Quentus joked, "I'm gonna flunk so I can come back next year."
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