The Exeter school district has received another grant for its Afterschool Program, renewed for a third five-year cycle and keeping the program going.

Mandy Mattingly, Afterschool Program director, said it’s rare for a school to be renewed once, let alone twice.

“There were 51 applications and 21 received funds, and not all of those 21 were fully funded,” Mattingly said. “Exeter’s program is fully funded and will receive nearly $900,000 over the 5 years.”

In the 2023-2024 school year, Mattingly said the program had about 175 students consistently participating, more than half the total student body at Exeter. The program runs from 7-8 a.m. before school and 3:05-5:05 p.m. after school. Snacks are provided during both time periods.

The most costly change this year is an addition for older participants, an eSports and coding club.

“A huge chunk of this year’’s money went to the eSports and coding club for grades 6-12,” Mattingly said. “We purchased multiple gaming systems, and students can play and compete against other schools. Half the year will be eSports, and the other half will be focused on coding.”

With the larger budget, new to the program this year is a focus on mental health, a trending topic in the education field, Mattingly said.

“We have a full-time interventionist that will tutor students Monday through Thursday,” Mattingly said. “Students are recommended for that by their teachers.”

The program is also hoping to inspire students to future careers by bringing in professionals to interact with Afterschool Program participants.

“We have professionals in various fields coming to speak to kids,” Mattingly said. “We’ll have people like mechanics and hair dressers, mostly from trade industries, to help students explore their options after high school.”

Continuing throughout the year will be the Program’s six family nights and six weeks of adult classes, each Monday from Sept. 9 to Oct. 21, from 5:05-7:05 p.m. Mattingly said with the Program entering its 11th year, feedback has been exceedingly positive.

“Lots of people use the program because they are not able to get off work until 5 p.m. or have to go in early,” she said. “Everyone is super grateful we have it, and we were worried it wouldn’t be renewed because it’s rare to get it for two cycles, and this is our third. There are other grants out there available to run an after-school program. This one takes the most work, but it’s the best.”

Mattingly said the school again had to submit its grant application, which was about 100 pages long and covered topics from the use of funds to the benefits of the program.

“We’re pretty pumped,” Mattingly said. “Our first family night is coming up, and people can see all our events on the calendar on the school website.”

The initial family night on Sept. 23 is reading- themed. Mattingly said it will be a glow party, so all the reading activities will incorporate glow-in-the-dark items.

On Oct. 16, date pending, Afterschool Program participants will go to the Haven of the Ozarks Animal Shelter to volunteer. Preceding the trip will be a shelter supply drive.

The district calendar may be found at: https://www.exeter.k12. mo.us/calendar.html. Afterschool Program events each have “ASP” at the beginning of the event title. For more information on the program, people may call the district at 417-8352922.