15 Arthur D. Healey School Students Are Junior Coach for Playworks Massachusetts

SOMERVILLE, Mass. – 15 fourth and fifth grade students at Arthur D. Healey School have been named Playworks Massachusetts Junior Coaches for the 2016-2017 school year.

Playworks Massachusetts is leading the recess revolution in New England. Entering its 11th year, the nonprofit, which is part of a national organization, brings play and youth development programming into schools during recess as a means to improve the health and well-being of children and to enhance learning through the power of play.

As a Junior Coach, these students will lead peers through games during recess on the playground. Wearing a Junior Coach t-shirt and carrying a whistle, they will work with a Playworks coach to help classmates to engage with one another, develop teamwork, inclusion and conflict resolution skills, and have fun, while developing their own self-confidence and leadership skills.

The Junior Coach program gives selected 4th and 5th grade students the tools they need to navigate through school and through life. Past experiences show, that given the opportunity, a set of well-defined responsibilities, a supportive adult role model and the uniform to match, these students will typically turn their behavior around and become model students.

The results speak for themselves: 84 percent of Junior Coaches experience improvement in social and emotional skills that can be used in school and beyond. Elementary school students with strong social and emotional skills are 54 percent more likely to earn a high school diploma, two-times as likely to earn a college degree, and 46 percent more likely to have a full-time job by the age of 25.

“The Playworks Junior Coach program impacts young leaders and through them, the world,” says Jonathan Gay, executive director of Playworks Massachusetts. “Junior coaches receive more than 100 hours of training during critical after school hours. Junior Coaches can be found at recess every day of the school year. They help ensure that every student is having fun, remaining physically active, and resolving conflicts in a peaceful manner. Junior Coaches become agents of real change in their communities and, consequently, Playworks schools see less bullying, fewer disciplinary referrals, and more time spent learning.”

Junior Coaches are identified by Playworks coaches and teachers at the beginning of each school year. Selected students are not necessarily the stars of the class, but rather they are shy and demonstrate limited communication skills or they are very active and may bully other children as they struggle to engage with peers.

Unique to Playworks, the Junior Coach program operates in partner low-income elementary schools every day and becomes infused into the school culture as Playworks staff work with school teachers and principals to incorporate leadership development activities into other aspects of the school day outside of recess.

Since its founding, Playworks Massachusetts has grown from seven to 75 elementary schools and serving 35,000 students across the Commonwealth. To date, the nonprofit has served 160,000 youth. For 10 years, the New Balance Foundation has helped to energize education alongside Playworks Massachusetts and is the nonprofit’s premier movement building partner. For more information about Playworks’ Junior Coach program, visit: http://www.playworks.org/communities/massachusetts.

About Playworks Massachusetts

Playworks Massachusetts is a local branch of a national nonprofit working to bring play and physical activity into elementary schools as a means to improve the health and well-being of children and to enhance learning. Through onsite direct-service coaching and training school faculty and staff, Playworks integrates physical activity and social and emotional learning skill-building into organized activities during recess to create a space where students feel included, are active, and build valuable social and emotional skills needed to thrive in the classroom and beyond. Entering its 11th year, Playworks Massachusetts serves 35,000 students in 75 elementary schools across the Commonwealth. To date, the nonprofit has served 160,000 youth. For more information, visit: http://www.playworks.org/communities/massachusetts.

About New Balance Foundation

Since 1981, the New Balance Foundation has served a deeply held mission: to support charitable organizations whose humanitarian efforts work for the betterment of our children and communities. The heart of the focus of the Foundation is the prevention of childhood obesity.