Students from The Boys and Girls Club of Westminster reached new heights of academic success thanks to the organization’s “Power Hour: Making Minutes Count” program funded by First Financial Federal Credit Union. In the fall of 2018, First Financial presented a grant of $50,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Westminster(BGCW) to upgrade computers, provide school supplies, and most importantly, hire tutors to work one-on-one or in small group settings with students who needed assistance throughout the 2018-2019 school year. Overall, with help from the Power Hour program, students are achieving higher passing rates in both language arts and math from elementary school through middle school; high school students have benefited as well.
In one notable example, participating students from William Winchester Elementary increased their passing rate in language arts from 28.57% to 100% and in math from 64.28% to 83.33%. At the high school level, nearly half of the program’s participants made Honor Roll or, for those with straight A’s, the Distinguished Honor Roll at the close of their schools’ most recent quarter, some having never before achieved that distinction throughout their school careers.
This after-school program is aligned with one of First Financial’s core community outreach priorities – enhancing education and closing the academic achievement gap for area students. The Power Hour program helps to do this by providing tutors and conducting individual academic tracking to help elementary students complete homework and extra credit work, identify areas in need of improvement, and prepare for upcoming tests
Working closely with BGCW, First Financial has seen its support yield significant positive results for the students. First Financial Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Peltzer and First Financial Youth Outreach Manager Cindy Jones joined Erin Bishop, BGCW Marketing Director, on June 12 to present the program’s results from the three most recent school quarters to the Carroll County School Board of Education. Bishop called First Financial’s support “very impactful, especially since many of the students served at the Boys and Girls Club of Westminster are considered at risk or fall in the achievement gap.”