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Keilen Frazier

Julian Paz, a first year student with Jonesville Academy, gives a thumbs-up to the workers at Fresh Food Company showing approval of his meal choice on September 11, 2021.

Young scholars of the Jonesville Academy arrived on WKU’s campus Saturday, Sept. 11 for the program’s inaugural class session.

“The goal of Jonesville Academy is to build a community around these kids that want to see them move forward in all phases of life,” Tyreon Clark, academy cofounder, said. “It’s a different experience from your regular school day.”

Jonesville serves minority students in third to eighth grade from across the Bowling Green and Warren County region, providing each child a weekly session to learn history, leadership, language, culture and STEM.

Ethan Montel, a first year student at Jonesville Academy that attends Dishman McGinnis Elementary School, is excited about the experience thus far.

“We learn to be kind, respectful and get to have a lot of fun,” Montel said.

The first day’s lesson plans included studying the messages behind music, playing a Chinese hacky sack style game called jianzi and learning about aerodynamics using paper airplanes.

“I think it was pretty cool that the students got to go over to Downing Student Union and eat at Fresh, all of that’s important,” Clark said. “Everybody is like, ‘who’s these kids?’ These are kids from Jonesville Academy! This is gonna be a new normal for everybody.”