Today on Education Counts Michiana.

Highlights from some of the best local initiatives and best practices in education.

Education Counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Investing in education and Economic Development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana Region.

Community Foundation of Elkhart County Inspire Good.

Kosciusko County Community Foundation Where Donor Dreams Shine.

The Dekko Foundation Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County Crossroads.

United Way.

Serving Elkhart, Lagrange and Noble Counties.

United Way of Saint Joseph County.

Marshall County Community Foundation.

Ready to Grow.

Saint Joe Early Childhood Coalition.

And a gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.

Welcome to Education Counts Michiana.

I'm your host, Sam Centellas.. Education Counts looks for programs and initiatives that are impacting how we teach, how we learn, and how we embrace education.

This program explores ideas in all education sectors.

Preschool through lifelong learning.

K-12, post-High school and job advancement training with the philosophy that we should never stop seeking knowledge.

This week, we highlight some of the best practices in education.

Girls and Women in Science at River Saint Joe, the Early Learning Center at Hubbard Hill, the Baker Youth Club After School Program in Warsaw.

Riley High School City Food Service Partnership, Junior Board of Directors at KVREMC and the South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program.

Preschool with Parents.

The Readiness Center in Benton Harbor is home to an innovative preschool and parent learning environment.

The Readiness Center offers families a chance to learn the tools necessary to break the cycle of poverty.

Parents come 6 hours a week for workshops on budgets, credit repair, home ownership, tenant rights and other empowering skills.

Videographer Kristen Franklin Editor Greg Banks.

This program is called the Readiness Center Preschool and Parenting Program.

It is a three day program for our children and they actually come here with their parents.

So we have something that's called parent and child time on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the first 30 minutes of class.

And it's when the parents are actually like the teachers of their children and they're helping them with learning.

The Readiness Center started in 1980.

It's been around for 43 years, and it was started by Sister Paulita Walters.

She's a sister of mercy from the Detroit area, and her community encouraged them to go into the community, be a part of the world, and be a part of neighborhoods that could use help one or two.

Good job.

We're acknowledging how good morning.

If I see that they're coming in, said, do you need love?

Can I get love?

And then we'll all open with morning affirmations because I want my kids to be confident.

I want them to be proud of the things that they can do and will do in the future.

So I want them to feel good about themselves.

So it's more an affirmation.

I'm smart, I'm kind, I'm beautiful.

Because we have no income requirement for our program.

We have families of all socioeconomic status.

And what it was really nice is just having a support system among the parents has been a really wonderful thing to see.

So you'll be surprised how many parents don't know how to actually work with their child.

I hear all the time with kids who go to public schools and stuff like that, or when we first got here in all the kids I do all my schooling and parents go, I can't do this.

I'm not up to this.

I'm not a teacher.

But you are a teacher.

You're their first teacher.

I would just say to be the only way it is to step into the child's shoes.

You know, we're living for them at this point and we're trying to build them a brighter future.

And the only way to do that is to walk them through that journey and to be a part of that.

Whatever they want to do, we have to invest in it.

And anything positive we need to invest in.

The Readiness Center is a very wonderful place for children and parents.

I think any father, any parent should actively engage in this program and really see what it's about and they'll learn to love it and look for extended versions of all these stories at WNIT.org.

Hands on Science.

River Saint Joe, a michigan based farm to table restaurant.

Buchanan and Fernwood Botanical Garden in Niles, have teamed up to promote women and girls pursuing careers in the sciences.

Both organizations emphasize the importance of exposing girls at a young age to areas of STEM and encourage them to not be limited in what they want to do.

Introducing girls to successful and empowering female role models is the first step.

Segment produced by Shanthini Ode.

Females are poised in a really interesting way to save the environment.

Women are usually the caretakers of the home, and they're also caretakers of the environment.

And a lot of women are mothers.

And I think there's a big connection between mother Earth and females.

And any time you can empower females to help save the planet and be environmentally friendly, I think you're really going to move that climate change discussion forward.

Being a women owned farm here and brewery, we're very interested in promoting events towards women, right, as well as things that are environmentally conscious.

Rivers State Joe rests on 180 acre certified organic farm.

Right now, we mostly produce small vegetables and we're working on incorporating fruits and down the line.

We'd love to be involved in some degree with animal products as well.

We like to think of it as giving people a taste of Southwest Michigan in its purest form.

And it's all happening right here on the farm.

This is the fifth year that Fernwood has celebrated the international the United Nations International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

It's really important to our mission just educating the public.

And it's kind of special because Fern Woods founder was a woman.

Kay Boydston, she was an amazing gardener and artist.

And she was always about, you know, inviting people from the community to just enjoy the natural surroundings here.

I really think it's important for young people to make connections with the natural world, and it seems like more and more they have less opportunity to do that.

It's all about environment, right?

Not just the environment you live in, but the environment and care that surrounds you.

We love to teach people about the ways that we do sustainable efforts and try and encourage them to do the same at home.

And I think it's one of our missions to continue to do educational outreach as often as we can to involve people in that mission.

You can keep trying if you're interested in something and you kind of persevere and you can really, you know, do anything and study what you love.

In telling women, as in girls, especially from a young age, that they are capable and strong and smart as so many impacts beyond just making them feel good.

It empowers them to choose careers or to become interested in things that otherwise maybe they wouldn't be.

And we we're very excited to be a part of that and to encourage that on our own.

Learn more at WNIT.org.

It takes a village.

The early learning Center at Hubbard Hill in Elkhart will become an intergenerational learning center.

The benefits of intergenerational programing for children is evident as they experience enhanced learning, social development and changing perceptions of older adults.

The older adults and residents experience physical, mental and emotional health benefits and enrichment.

Mutual learning.

Mutual benefit.

It turns out that no matter how old you are, it's all about relationships.

And people are starved and hungry for that.

And so making environments that are conducive to having those kind of interactions.

So that and what we've experienced is that kids sometimes bring their periods and say, why don't we go into Hubbard next?

Right now, it's pretty miraculous what's happening here today, not just the project, but the fact that we're here two years after becoming decided to head down this path of building the Early Learning Center.

We're very excited to bring the Early Learning Center, which is currently housed over at Granger Community Church, over to our new home here at Hubbard Hill.

We are excited to be a part of a new community and a new.

Over here in Elkhart County.

And we can't wait to bring the new intergenerational piece as well to kind of not only enrich our community, but develop lots of relationships with across the generations.

Everyone who's in senior care knows that the needs of seniors are the same as every human being at every age level.

And that's the connection and relationship.

And there's something with seniors in particular where there's a desire to have value to the next generation to to pass on their legacy, if you will, and their wisdom, their life experiences and understanding that that helps build a foundation for that child to live a more vibrant life, maybe to sometimes avoid the mistakes we made.

But mostly it's to have the nurturing, caring environment that's safe and warm and that that everyone knows every child needs.

And so being a part of that is incredibly valuable to seniors.

So we do a lot and have done historically a lot of intergenerational activities.

But this takes it to a whole another level where they could be intimately involved with children at this incredible, delicate developmental stage every day easily.

Before that, we bussing kids in and in relationships with schools, and it's been beautiful.

But this changes the whole campus.

The we use the high school curriculum here at the school, and it's a play based program, but everything is provided for.

The children and done throughout the day is very intentional on behalf of the of the child and their interests in the classroom.

It is very authentic.

We don't do a lot of assessments on the children.

It's we do anecdotal notes, which is what allows us to capture those authentic moments.

And then we share the notes that we capture and the activities that are happening in the classroom with the families so that they can see all of the things that their child has accomplished and done throughout that particular week.

So we already designed the building so that we can easily add more classrooms because we know that this is not even close to meeting the need in the community.

We're making a dent.

We're happy to be part of that.

So seniors win, the community wins, the families, our staff wins the community who are working parents and looking for high quality accredited facility.

Discover these stories in more at WNIT.org afterschool Learning.

Warsaw's Baker Youth Club prioritizes the education and social identity of the students.

It serves a wide variety of programing, including reading assessments and STEM related activities help kids achieve goals that will allow them to grow and succeed.

Baker Youth Club also allows college students interested in careers and education to volunteer and intern, creating interdisciplinary lesson plans to engage kids in learning.

Baker Youth Club is a before school and afterschool program, and we also run a summer camp.

We do an all day and an afternoon only summer camp.

Our three pillars of our mission are education, health and social skill building.

Our mission is to work with the youth Chicago County to shape an educated, physical and social identity based on Christian values.

I think it's really cool when we get learners hands dirty.

I think that's really when learning occurs, pushing them out of their comfort zone and just taking those steps to kind of deeper learning is where my heart lies, really.

I love watching those moments where students grow.

Whether that is socially, whether that's school related, they need help with their homework and they walk through and they get help in our homework room or sit down with a staff member.

And it's been cool to watch those that need that help come in and then see where they're at a couple of months later.

We track the student's reading levels at the beginning of the year through the end of the year, and over the last four years, we've been 100% have maintained or improved their reading levels from start to finish in the school years.

So we're very proud of the effort we put into those educational programs, and then we just try to build off of that with the STEM and art projects.

And then we have just tons of physical activities from dodgeball to run fishes, run to basketball, soccer, and then just space for kids to be kids, hang out, play board games.

We created a room in our facility.

That's all STEM related.

We have 3D printers, we have a 50 foot LEGO wall, we have a magnetic wall.

The probably the neatest thing that's created out of that room is our partnership with the local Grace College, which we have 150 discovery tubs.

These tubs consist of materials and a test car to complete a STEM project.

BAKER Youth, these has really help me because especially being a major, it's so nice to be able to work with kids because so many other people, I feel like they don't really get the opportunity to get the hands on experience besides being in a classroom or staff that are high school or college age students, some of them going into education and they're using this job as pad to their resume or to gain real life experience.

I try to focus on what does it mean to be a good citizen?

What does it mean to be a good friend?

What does it mean to respect boundaries?

I've been here for three years and just the relationships are so important to me because they are school.

Sometimes it isn't like a safe space for some kids and they don't enjoy it.

But being able to be that safe space for a person have bakeries could be a safe space for them before school and after school is really important.

We do tons of different in-house programs, so we have STEM projects that we do daily.

We do reading programs.

So our kindergarten to third graders is has mandatory reading programs that come in and do 15 to 20 minutes of reading a day.

The third graders have an I read three prep that helps them prepare for the I read three tests at the end of the year.

It's a different environment because of how close knit the staff is and I think that translates very well to the students.

This community is a giving community.

We would not be where we are today without their support, but they also see the impact we're having on the kids.

When you get to watch that tough exterior that they put off kind of melt as you form relationships with them and you see their personalities start to come out and they change.

And it's been really fun to watch that.

And some of our students.

For additional resources, check out WNIT.org.

Restaurant Management.

South Bend Riley High School's CTE Food and Nutrition Partnership allows students to learn the logistics of running a kitchen.

Students manage food nutrition regulations and meal prep for the food service industry.

So we're here to talk about the supply chain and logistics, CTE here at Riley High School.

It is pretty new.

It's been around for a few years.

We opened up in the pandemic and it's basically in response to the need that we understand exists in our community for these types of jobs.

And so we started and I was looking for employers to connect with and connect students to for tours, opportunities, internships, all those things.

And Chartwells is in the building as our food service provider.

And they presented themselves and we started having conversation and we started building a program.

We are a program that is governed by USDA.

And so since we are in a school setting, we run a national school lunch program and there are certain nutritional aspects that we are required in order to meet what is called a reimbursable meal.

And our whole program really pushes nutrition education.

Students have to learn what our staff has to learn, that there are so many calories that have to be served each day and so many ounces served of each of those components, they are able to take the skills that we teach them as far as time, time limits and restraints, because all of our students are going to be coming in to eat and they only have a certain amount of time.

So they have to be able to thrive in an environment of a team work atmosphere and work together in order to have food prepared for students at the certain time that they come in for lunch each day.

And so they're able to learn those skills of how to work through challenges or even if it's fun, how to work together as a team.

And then I feel that they would be able to take that into the workforce as they move on out of high school with this opportunity, because it's in the building and students don't have to go anywhere, we already have the infrastructure in place for them to make it to the classroom and we don't have to get them anywhere else.

Sometimes we have internship opportunities outside of the building, but one of the main things that we're going to need is transportation and we're not always able to provide that.

And so if a student doesn't have some form of transportation, that could be an issue that would get in the way of them being able to have access.

And so I love this because everybody gets access, right?

Like we all have cafeterias.

And so we have plenty of capacity to give these students opportunities and do what we're doing and continue to build on that.

For full versions of these stories, head to the website Leadership and Volunteerism.

Kankakee Valley, REMC works hard to give back to their community.

In Stark County, their new program, Junior Board of Directors, allows high school juniors to explore careers in their local community and understand how the economy of their home functions while volunteering and giving back after the school year, they receive a scholarship from KVREMC, so we're electric cooperative.

We service about 18,000 members throughout seven counties, parts of seven counties.

So part of the program is community service, and the kids do community projects throughout their school or outside of their school.

And for every hour that they do a service, they earn $15.

We then take that money that they collect throughout the program, throughout the eight months, and they can use that for their capstone project.

At the end of the time, the first project that we're doing is helping the Hope Restored Recovery Home.

It's in Richardson.

And then the other one is the Stark County Humane Society.

So we're all passionate about it, and I feel like we're definitely going to make a difference as we're raising money in any way to help them.

We're going to donate our time and our labor to help them in any way that we can just to give back to our community.

And we are just wanting to open up the opportunities that we do have here at a co-op or the opportunities that we do have in a community that you don't always have to move away and move to the big city.

There's a lot here for everyone.

I'm definitely going to use like all of the skills that I learned and all the knowledge that I gained from that experience to come back here and definitely try to give back to the community.

I might like lead a service project or something, you know, inform the community about how to take care of your body, how to take care of others, just what you can do in your community to better it.

We've learned how to work together different leadership skills, the different businesses in our community.

Learn about this co-op, our REMC and how it works and how it gives back to the community.

We've learned how to do applications for colleges, job interview tips, just a whole bunch of staff to help us out in life and help give back to our community.

They've met with state senator, state representatives.

They're invited to the state house.

We're going to tour the local courthouse.

We're going to watch court in session.

We're going to tour the sheriff's department training facility.

Our goal overall was to ultimately not only open the door to the possibilities we have here at a co-op, but also make a better leader.

They're getting a lifetime of experience in eight months that a lot of people might not get in their whole lifetime.

I am definitely an introvert, but this is helping me step outside my comfort zone and I'm definitely coming out of my shell.

I do feel like they are equipping me very well.

It's giving me insight on how our community works and different aspects of it that make it better and make it worse.

And what we can do to better it.

Find more ideas in education at WNIT.org.

The business of small business.

The South Bend Entrepreneurship and Diversity Program involves six core elements training programs, mentoring one on one consulting community connection, micro-credit, research and tracking.

The program coaches and empowers owners to evolve into a more vibrant and resilient small business.

Tell me how a smart entrepreneur would take the numbers and come up with a smarter strategy for running the business.

I built my house when I was 26 years old and the day I moved in it was like a dream come true.

And I knew my dream can come true.

Other people's dreams can come true.

How can it was God put in my heart to do it for somebody else.

Show somebody else how I accomplish what I accomplished.

Today we're at the Charles Martin Youth Center on the west side of South Bend, Indiana.

Off Lincoln Way provides a place for the community to come together to engage in activities, events, young people and adults event to help build their skills and capacity.

It's a place that they can come and talk together.

The South Bend Entrepreneurship and Adversity Program is a program.

It's a ten month annual program for people who come from adverse or disadvantage or circumstances who are trying to start and grow businesses of their own.

We also have what we call Community Connect, which are periodic social networking events.

This is an opportunity for the entrepreneurs in the program who come from more disadvantaged circumstances to connect with the larger business community, to connect with the community so people will do business with these entrepreneurs.

For me, it's inspiring and motivating just to see people have that hope, and then it's about having a dream that they can run their own business.

I tell them, it's not about money.

Everybody's like, Give me $20,000 and I'll start a business.

I tell them, It's about your mindset.

It's how you look at the world around you.

I can do this and I can leverage my community, leverage the things around me, and I'll get there.

A lot of blood, sweat and tears before you make a dime.

But because I love it.

Because it's what I'm here for, I do it and the money is just gravy.

Check out WNIT.org for more resources on these and other stories.

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The success of every student matters Education Counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Investing in Education and Economic Development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana region.

Community foundation of Elkhart County, inspire good.

Kosciusco County Community Foundation Where Donor Dreams Shine.

The Dekko Foundation.

Community Foundation of Saint Joseph County Crossroads United Way serving Elkhart, Lagrange and Noble Counties United Way of Saint Joseph County Marshall County Community Foundation Ready to Grow Saint Joe Early Childhood Coalition and a Gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

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