Capitol News

The Lansing School district recently introduced a new program to boost student development in both academics and athletics.

During the May 4 Lansing school district board of education meeting, board members received a monthly health and wellness report from district school nurse Susan Wheeler, who later introduced Jon Horford. Horford, a district supervisor of student athlete development, has been working with the district to curate a “comprehensive, student-centered program for academic and athletic development.”

Horford introduced the concept and explained the student development program. Currently housed at the Don Johnson Field House, the program offers tutoring resources and structured training for students including speed and strength training, and specific training sessions for sports including volleyball, basketball, and football. All components are provided in partnership with different organizations, with some offering food and others providing actual academic and athletic tutoring. Horford said that the program serves a couple hundred students each week.

"The only complaint is that we can't get enough kids utilizing the tutoring resources. 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, [if] you need help with your homework, you should be in there and just trying to de-stigmatize tutoring. Because when I talk to the students, a lot of them believe that 'going to tutoring, people think I'm dumb,'" Horford said at the meeting. "But we could actually get 100 students a day utilizing tutoring services, if not more, if the need was there. And the need is there, if the desire was there for them to utilize those services."

Horford said the program enjoys good levels of participation in the strength training and athletic portions of the program and is proud of the high quality of training offered to students, although the focus is on more than just making students into outstanding athletes. The coaches are invested in instilling work ethic and sportsmanship in the students, while also giving them an opportunity to grow and to have fun.

"Consistency is one of the most difficult parts of any sort of development program. 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," Horford said.

The board was excited about the program which can help instill students with good mind and body habits that will help them in their future education or life plans and offered to help Horford promote the program. Students can sign up on the program's website for sessions. In-person and phone sign-ups are available to students without internet access. Some sessions have a limit on the number of students who can attend, but this number is typically not reached and students who show up are usually not turned away.