Muskogee Students Learn Coding, Robotics After School

Some Oklahoma middle school students are going to get the chance to learn game coding as part of a new after school program.

It's a first for Muskogee Public Schools. Starting next week, more than 80 students at Robertson Junior High School will get a chance to do more extra curricular activities after school.

When the bell rings around three, students who don't play sports at Alice Robertson Junior High School go home. That gives them about two and a half hours to do whatever they want while they wait for their parents to come home from work. So the school decided to ask for grant money from the Oklahoma Department of Education to keep the students learning after school.

Austin Robinett, an eighth grader, is signing up for the program in hopes of getting hands-on learning after class.  He and his fellow students believe the program is needed in Muskogee.

8/10/2015 Related Story: Muskogee New Tech Academy First Of Its Kind In Oklahoma

"You have a whole bunch of kids who have nothing to do after school, so they go out and do whatever they want to do with their friends and go get in trouble," he said. "I think it's a great opportunity for kids to learn something that would actually benefit their future and their career."

"It's really importantt because it gives us something to do after school," said Phuong Ngyuen, a seventh-grade student.

After making sure they meet the students' academic needs, the school will offer art, robotics, game coding and fitness classes four days a week. The grant also pays for free meals and bus rides home.

"For those kids to be able to have something eat after school and have a place to go until their parents get off work, it's very importan -  a safety issue," said Jerrod Adair, program coordinator. "It gives them something to do so they're not getting in trouble out on the streets."

"It's a fun, creative place to be," he said.

The grant also allows for parents to come into the after school program from time-to-time and build a resume - and even learn English through Rosetta Stone.