Once upon a time, several years ago, in Lincoln, two young girls began attending a Summer learning program at the Asian Community Center. Thanks to this experience and the support of their parents and mentors, they discovered a talent for speaking Mandarin Chinese. Now, imagine yourself fast-forwarding into 2022, except halfway across the globe. One of those girls, now a young woman, is responsible for obtaining a $25,000 grant from MICRON USA to build a team promoting cross-global expanded learning in Taiwan. This example of Hana McMahon-Cole isn’t a fairy tale. This story is a true-to-life example of how far afterschool and summer learning can propel young people and how Nebraska can connect them halfway across the globe.

Learning can veer into countless directions and exciting terrains.

Afterschool provides that space, not only throughout Nebraska but the world. As you probably know, we all learn differently, but we know one thing for certain: when we are engaging ourselves and our children, our capacity for success is limitless.

In a rapidly changing, fast-paced world, our great state needs to retain and grow young, driven, and innovative professionals. There’s simply no better place than afterschool – wherever you may be – to partake in quality learning that can spark future careers.

Find out how Nebraska Children’s afterschool initiative, Beyond School Bells’ Jeff Cole and his daughter created a formidable team that’s taking afterschool halfway across the world, all the way to Taiwan and back!