The dozen middle school-aged students balance nervously on a thin bridge suspended over molten lava. One of the students, Latosha, slips and falls into the superheated magma. You can do that when it's a game, your bridge is a piece of masking tape and the lava is the carpet on the floor.
Students come for the fun and to get tutoring help with their schoolwork.
They leave also knowing a little more about life. The program seeks to provide a setting where improving social skills and building faith receive equal billing with boosting academics. The program uses a combination of tutoring, activities, faith, field trips and games to teach participants communication and life skills, said Arnold, director of community services for Buckner in Northeast Texas. This is not an academic program per se. Our goal is to provide these kids with a fun, safe place to go after school, where their parents know we are going to care for them.