The Georgia Recreation and Park Association announced Thursday it approved a contract with the Bulloch County Recreation and Parks Department to serve more students in its AfterSchool program.

According to a release from Kimberly Sharpe, Event and Communications coordinator with the department, the contract is for $107,000, which comes from the Georgia Department of Education, through the competitive Building Opportunities in Out-of-School Time (BOOST) Grants Program.

“This summer we have focused on STEM activities,” said Joy Deal, Recreation manager. “The children have learned so much from the activities. They have participated in coding with robots, Lego engineering and construction, and building circuits. They have been excited to open each new box of activities, and every camper has participated in a learning STEM activity at least 4 out of 5 days each week.”

Bulloch County Recreation was one of 29 state agencies to receive contract funding for summer BOOST programs, according to the release. The purpose of the funds is for Bulloch County and all Georgia departments awarded contracts to:

• Expand access to serve more youth, with an emphasis on students and communities most impacted by the pandemic.
• Reduce barriers, such as transportation and enrollment costs, to ensure access for all.
• Increase programmatic quality and expand or enhance supports and services offered.

“We have offered things that we have not been able to offer in the past,” Deal said. “These funds have helped us go from building rockets with toilet paper tubes and tissue paper, to truly learning more about rockets and building them from quality materials that will last and have more of a learning impact. We have had a summer of learning infusion.”