Photos by Aloise McCullough Above and below, children in the JETS summer program at OKC-Lambuth sing and perform during the closing festivities.

By ALOISE McCULLOUGH

An $88,000 grant will enable the JETS after-school program of Skyline Urban Ministry to open two new sites in Oklahoma City.

The fund award by Impact Oklahoma Inc. was announced in late September.

JETS serves elementary students in its three existing programs at Lambuth and Epworth United Methodist Churches and at Mark Twain Elementary School.

The grant will be used to add a middle-school program at Lambuth and an elementary-school site at Quayle United Methodist Church, according to Tree Currier, education director at Skyline. Two vans also will be purchased to transport students.

JETs operates five days a week after school hours during the academic year, and also presents a Summer Academy.

The new component at the Lambuth site will serve Capitol Hill Middle School. The current program is for students at Capitol Hill Elementary School. At Quayle church, JETS will serve Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School students. At Epworth UMC, the program connects with Eugene Fields Elementary School.

Currier said the additional sites will bridge the gap as JETs reaches out to children in northeast Oklahoma City.

First- through fifth-graders have been the target age groups for the program. The middle-school program will allow sixth- through eighth-graders also to be reached.

27 youngsters in summer program

This summer 27 children learned about becoming better "Earth Keepers."

Unlike during the school year, the JETS programs combine in summer and meet at one site. This time, they met at Lambuth UMC in June.

"They were on nature walks every morning," said Currier.

Children, led by a team of six teachers, picked up trash during those walks. Eco-friendly trash bags were used.

Some of the rubbish was reused in a "recycled art gallery" the children displayed at their closing ceremony. Each age group also presented a play about "taking care of God’s Earth."

They also adopted a giraffe at the city zoo and helped sponsor its care.

Currier said "imaginal" education is taught at JETs. This approach teaches children that, although they can’t change their external experiences, they can find ways to turn them to work for their good.

"We teach them to embrace the negative part and turn that into their positive," said Currier. "It is very powerful."

For more information, contact Currier, treecurrier@cox.net,  405-236-5212. Visit the Web site, www.skylineurbanministry.org.  Skyline director is Claudia Lovelace, and Lyn Clements chairs the board.