Well into the school year, students in the metro are hitting the books hard and one organization is looking to help struggling students while also challenging others who are at grade-level.
The catch: students have to show up on Saturdays at Monroe Middle School.
Years ago, three studens at Omaha North High Magnet School did so.
Cayden Cribbs,16, Davian Sayers and Danny Arevalo, both 15, are students who went to 100 Saturday Academy for several years.
Arevalo says he dreams of going to law school while Cribbs and Sayers want to be architects.
But the path to their dreams could've been derailed, they say, had they not gone for tutoring during the weekend.
It's put on by 100 Black Men in several cities across the nation. The Omaha chapter has held the academy for the past eight years, geared towards third through sixth grade students for all subjects.
The tutors are certified teachers, says Eric Ewing, program director for 100 Black Men of Omaha.
“It's targeting those students who may not be up to grade level but we also open it up to students who may want to be at grade level and want to excel,” Ewing says.
As younger children, they say they struggled with math and reading.
Now in high school, each student says they’re excelling.
“I'm in all honor classes right now and the classes I have that aren't honors are [Advanced Placement],” Cribbs says, a junior.
I improved my NeSA score from fifth to sixth grade, says Arevalo who started the academy in the third grade and is now a sophomore.
Sayers says he jumped a grade ahead is now a junior at North High.
The teens say the program helped them out so much that they're mentoring kids in the academy.
Arevalo started doing so at the end of seventh grade whereas Sayers started his sophomore year.
“I feel like I can help them to better themselves in the future to do something great and probably even change the world,” Sayers says.
100 Saturday Academy starts Saturday, Sept. 17 at 9:30 a.m. at Monroe Middle School.
According to Ewing, the academy accepts approximately 125 students and is still taking applications.
For more information, click here.
