BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Bowling Green Junior High School is launching a Black Male Scholars Program to better support students at the school.
What You Need To Know
- The summer program will be for 6th-8th graders and continue with the fall program for only 6th graders
- The goal is to support students academically and emotionally as well as teach them through an African American lens
- The summer program will have up to 75 students while the fall program will be 25 students
- New program looks to fight the learning gap for Black male students
The program will be broken up into two parts with a scholars program for just 6th graders starting in the fall of 2021 and a summer program for 6th through 8th graders.
Principal Robert Lightning, along with Assistant Principal Darlene Porter, will conduct interviews for students who apply for the program and are looking forward to starting soon.
“There has historically been a discrepancy between the level of academic performance for our African American males in comparison to our other students," said Lightning. "So this is our way to intentionally approach and tackle that deficit to make up some ground.”
The program will offer a mentorship component as well as social group sessions that will take place to discuss the future interests of students. According to Porter, parents have also been supportive of the new program.
"We have received a lot of extra positive feedback from our parents," said Porter. "They are excited about the opportunity their kids have and we look forward to working with them as well."
Another key component is teaching these classes through the lens of African American culture and history and keeping that history alive throughout their math, science and English courses.
This inaugural 6th grade class in the fall will serve as a test run for the school and Lightning says he hopes to expand it to the entire school.
“Hopefully over the course of the next three years, we can grow it from 6th to 8th grade," said Lightning.