FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2007
Contact: Joshua Hollis
(662) 329-7119

Continuation Grant awarded to MUW’s Crossroads Program

COLUMBUS, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education has once again awarded a grant to the Roger F. Wicker Center for Creative Learning at Mississippi University for Women to fund the Crossroads Program.
 

The Crossroads Program, led by Ivey Ivy, is designed as a “comprehensive support program” targeting seventh through ninth grade students from Columbus Municipal School District.
 

The grant, a “21st Century Community Learning Centers Continuation Grant,” is in the amount of $211,989.
 

The goal of the project is to provide a safe and enriching environment for students outside of regular school hours, where the students are further exposed to leadership development, reading, language arts, and mathematics. The students also make use of a web-based literacy program called TeenBiz3000.
 

There are also weekly programs sponsored by the Columbus Arts Council that allow students to become experienced with oil painting, music, drama, videography, and creative writing.
 

Two Columbus High art teachers are also leading programs on culinary skills and pottery-making.
 

Students stay after school on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Students from the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science tutor on Tuesday afternoons. On Saturday students travel to the MUW campus and use the newly-opened Stark Recreation Center. The students are able to swim, play basketball, participate in relay races, or play a game of flag football. Crossroads hired about 16 employees through the Office of Campus Recreation to help with the program on Saturdays. Most of the staff members are either MUW students or MUW staff members and faculty.
 

During the first year of the Crossroads Program, only students in the seventh and eighth grades were served, but this year things are different.
“A group of eighth graders who had completed the program last year wanted to continue,” said Ivy. As a result, the program also includes a group of 11 students who are currently at Columbus High School.
 

Another change this year is the heightened interest in the program. “We filled to maximum capacity this year - that’s 100 students,” said Ivy. Last year, she said the program did not fill up completely because of the late start.
 

Crossroads also assists the Adolescent Offenders Program and the Lowndes County Detention Center by providing arts classes and academic lessons. A therapist from the Community Counseling office provides group counseling sessions to students at the detention center.
 

The program consists of an 11-week fall program, an 11-week spring program, and a four-week summer program. Ivy said there is a definite commitment from the students, because just like their regular classes, there is an attendance policy with the Crossroads Program.
 

Ivy said the main objectives of the program are to provide “academic achievement, personal development and wellness, artistic and cultural experiences, increased partnerships between schools and community-based groups, and parent involvement.”
 

Because of the grant, there is no cost to the students in the program. For the first two years of the grant, 100 percent funding is provided. Each subsequent year, the amount of funding decreases. Next year, if the program receives the grant for a third time, the funding will be at 80 percent. It will decrease every year after that for the next two years, at which point the Center for Creative Learning can reapply for full funding.

For further information regarding the Crossroads Program, contact Ivey Ivy by phone at (662) 329-7159 or by e-mail at iivy@muw.edu.