Blog Archives

Beyond School Bells and Cardinal Community Learning Centers Grow the Good Life with GPA Outdoor Program

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

If you visit Crete Public Schools’ campus, you’ll notice a sense of life. Monarchs flitter through gardens. Heirloom vegetables thrive in the greenhouse. Cardinals return to roost in trees. This revitalization is no accident; it is the result of Cardinal Community Learning Centers’ (CCLC) outdoor education program. This lively scene is also proof that working together, as a community, we can turn old spaces into vibrant new ones while creating opportunity and abundance.

Beyond School Bells and Cardinal Community Learning Centers revitalize outdoor spaces and create quality learning opportunites, thanks to supporters like you. Read more.

Wonder Powers, ACTivate: Beyond School Bells, UNL Honors, and Partners Create Test Prep for Low-Income Students 

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

BSB and UNL design studios create ACTivate. ACTivate is a college-readiness progrma that pairs UNL Honors students with GIPS students. The program provides test-prep for lower-income youth and the support they need to feel college-ready.

Aftershock: Norfolk Public Schools’ Afterschool Program and Beyond School Bells Respond to the Community and Students’ Needs with a New Podcasting Club

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

Nebraska Children and Families Foundation is on board with purposeful afterschool programs like these. We are home to Beyond School Bells (BSB), a dedicated network of afterschool professionals who create, sustain, and enhance quality expanded learning programs, or ELOs.

Beyond School Bells is always glad to catch up with one of our partners and afterschool programs like Aftershock, which recently began a podcasting club. Say what you will about afterschool and summer programs, but they are anything but just babysitting. Here, kids build gumdrop towers, create robots, learn boradcasting and podcasting, and prepare for careers.

Afterschool IS Engagement: Beyond School Bells and UNL Honors Build a Dynamic K-16 Learning Pipeline

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

BSB and UNL Honors are partnering on two key initiatives. The first strand is that of the Registered Student Organizations, specifically the UNL Honors Afterschool Clubs, on UNL’s campus. These clubs offer students a paid opportunity to flex their experiential muscles and provide community support.

Beyond School Bells, Nebraska Children’s network of afterschool professionals, and UNL Honors are partnering to create Registered Student Organizations. Specifically the team is responsible for the UNL Honors Afterschool Clubs, on UNL’s campus. These clubs offer students a paid opportunity to flex their experiential muscles and provide community support. Read more to see how these clubs support our kids, community, and UNL students with everything from leadership to STEM to career prep.

Braxton Crowder: A Driven Young Professional Who Went from Attending Afterschool Programs to Directing Many

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

As with many successful people, Braxton Crowder’s journey was neither straight nor smooth. Beyond School Bells is pleased to present this interview with Braxton, whose dedication to afterschool programs mirrors BSB’s mission to create and sustain them. Read how this driven young man’s resolve and support from an afterschool program changed his life and created a thriving career path.

Beyond School Bells CARES: Funding is Now Available for School-Age Childcare Providers

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

On October 1, Beyond School Bells (BSB), Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s dedicated network of afterschool professionals, opened a new web portal that will accept CARES Act applications from licensed school-age and school-based providers who have been impacted by the pandemic.

GetConnected 2020

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

COVID or not, this year’s GetConnected Conference participants’ engaged and enjoyed quality virtual time!

To the Moon: Beyond School Bells Teams Up with Partners to Enhance Girls’ Presence in STEM

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

Starting from September 16, 2020, Beyond School Bells will partake in STEM Next and partners’ Million Girls Moonshot launch. As we prepare for lift-off, we feel it’s worth mentioning that we are thankful to STEM Next who awarded Beyond School Bells a year-long grant to lead the effort in Nebraska! Read more about how Beyond School Bells is preparing for lift-off!

Think Make Create Trailers™: The Eyes into the Future of the Next Generation of Professionals?

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Nebraska Children — 2 Comments

Lately, the future of kids going back to school has been uncertain. Happily, when Beyond School Bells’ teamed up with Big Red Keno, a Think Make Create Lab rolled into Family Service Lincoln. The future was hopeful once again! Read more about how our next generation of young creators made the most of this mobile makerspace!

Children of the Trees: Communities, Nonprofits, and Public Institutions Unite on Behalf of Nebraska-Tree-A-Thon

Posted on May 5, 2020 by Nebraska Children — Leave a comment

On Arbor Day weekend, April 24-26, youth and their communities across Nebraska participated in a statewide Tree-A-Thon to plant and celebrate trees. 

BSB kicked off the Tree-A-Thon alongside Arbor Day Foundation, Natural Resource Districts, Audubon Nebraska, Nebraska Forest Service, and The University of Nebraska. As with any major initiative, this project constituted more than just tree-planting; BSB and its partners had a larger mission in mind. 