Lansing Sun

The Lansing School District Board of Education met on May 4, where they heard from school nurse Susan Wheeler for her monthly health and wellness report, as well as Jon Horford, who has been working with the district to create a “comprehensive, student-centered program for academic and athletic achievement.”

Horford, who is the supervisor of Student Athlete Development, discussed the concept and spoke about the student development program that is currently at the Don Johnson Field House.

“We offer tutoring resources for students,” Horford told the board. “We have food and snacks for students every day. And then we have structured training for the students.”

The program offers speed and strength training, and other training sessions specifically focused for sports like football, basketball and volleyball. There are partnerships with different organizations involved, that include providing food and also providing academic and athletic tutoring. Horford added that they serve a couple hundred students a week, but the only complaint is that they cannot get enough students to utilize the tutoring resources.

“But we could actually get 100 students a day, you know, utilizing tutoring services, if not more, if the need was there,” Horford said. “And the need is there, if the desire was there for them to utilize those services.”

Horford added: “I tried to talk to all of the kids every day about it. Like, if you don’t have a 4.0 you should be in there. Like, you need help with your homework, you should be in there and just trying to destigmatize tutoring. Because when I talk to the students, a lot of them believe that going to tutoring, people think I’m dumb.”

Horford said the district is also seeing a high level of participation in the strength training, as well as the athletic portions of the program. He said they are very proud of the quality of training offered to students, although their focus is not just making them amazing athletes. The coaches are invested in instilling work ethic and sportsmanship in their athletes as well and are also giving them an opportunity to grow and have fun.

“Consistency is one of the most difficult parts of any sort of development program,” Horford said. “It’s just getting kids to come in to participate and have a good attitude and outlook on everything consistently over a long period of time.”

The board members expressed their excitement about the programs that can help students create solid mind and body habits for future education or life. Students can sign up on the website for sessions, or also can sign up in person or over the phone if they don’t have internet access. There are some sessions with a capacity, but they do not make a habit of turning students away.