Did you know that Noble and Spears have a decades-long partnership? Hear from Bethany Williard, Associate Executive Director at the Spears YMCA, about the latest collaboration – Spears Knights Club (SKC). The afterschool program follows closely in the footsteps of TKC in serving Noble students in grades 2 through 8, and adds swimming or water play on Wednesdays.
Learn more about Noble Academy or schedule a tour: nobleknights.org
To register for SKC or inquire about open spots, visit the Spears YMCA front desk (Monday–Friday, 8 AM–6 PM).
Gayle Cole (0:13): Welcome to the Blue and Gold Chat, the podcast brought to you by Noble Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina. On this podcast, we talk about empowering students with learning differences to pursue their highest potential. I'm your host, Gail Cole, Noble Academy's head of school. Thank you for listening from across the Piedmont where we draw most of our families and most of our listeners. And thank you to those who listen from farther away. We've had families relocate from 14 different states, other countries, and even Australia because what we provide to LD learners at Noble is transformative. Thanks for talking on the Blue and Gold Chat podcast today, Bethany. To kick us off, can you tell listeners a little bit about your background and your role at Spears YMCA?
Bethany Williard (0:59): Yes, it's great to be here. Thanks for asking us to come and chat about the YMCA. So I have been working for the YMCA in a full-time capacity for 22 years. I joined the Spears team in 2010 for 7 years, was the aquatic director, and then went to the downtown Y, our Bryan YMCA, for 5 years, and then came back to Spears in 2023. And I am currently the Associate Executive Director at Spears. So Spears has a big piece of my heart since I've been working with them in some capacity really for the past 16 years.
Gayle Cole (1:37): Spears and Noble have a wonderful relationship. Will you share a little bit about that relationship?
Bethany Williard (1:43): Yes. So since the day we were built 24 years ago, we have worked with Noble very closely. And so the exciting things that we share with Noble are our fields. So our soccer fields and our baseball fields. We share those. We also have Noble students and families that can get memberships for free or discount depending upon which type of membership you're signing up for, which is a great benefit for the Noble community. We also have a gym that is completely dedicated to Noble. It even has the Noble logo, which is really fun to see, and banners that Show Noble Students, and they come and do PE classes, and then after school they have their after-school sports, so basketball and volleyball. Of course, when they're not in it, we definitely utilize that space because we need it as well, but they get first priority, and we love seeing the kids come into our facility and use that space, and then families when they come in and support their students at the games.
Gayle Cole (2:53): And you also have afterschool programs.
Bethany Williard (2:55): Yes. So new to this year and to our offering with Noble, we are offering SKC, which is an afterschool program here onsite at Noble. The YMCA has done afterschool programs for years. We have a strong afterschool program onsite at Spears with all of the local schools that we pick up and we bring them to our building. We have about 175 kids onsite at Spears, but we got asked to, um, run a program at Noble and serve this community, and we're so excited. It has been a success, um, and we are almost full. We still have a couple spots remaining, um, and we're so excited to be a part of the Noble community even more than what we had been with just people coming into Spears.
Gayle Cole (3:46): Who can enroll in SKC? We're a grade 2 through 12 school, so What ages are able to take advantage of SKC and what is the pricing?
Bethany Williard (3:58): Yes, so we will take them all the way until they go into 9th grade. So through 8th grade, we'd be happy to have them in our program. And the price is $390 for the month. And so you pay monthly and the payments, the first payment is in September, September 1st. The last payment is May 1st. You can join, of course, at any time, but they are equal installments throughout the year of $390.
Gayle Cole (4:28): So we've had at Noble after-school, which we used to call TKC, the Knights Club, now SKC, Spears Knights Club, and it's very, very similar. For Spears, it was a little new to come into our environment, and you know that we specialize in serving students with learning differences like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD, How do you and your team help make sure our students with learning differences feel understood and safe and successful in our SKC program?
Bethany Williard (5:02): Yes, so thankfully we have a great staff team that really takes the time to get to know the students. They stay calm and try to explain things in a way that they're able to best understand, but we have a 1 to 10 ratio with the students-to-staff ratio, which I think is really helpful so they don't get overwhelmed with the amount of kids that they're helping, especially in homework or outside play. And so far it's been a really positive experience for the kids. I heard that one kid was walking down the hallway and telling their friend that they should sign up because they're having so much fun and that they love the staff. So that was like the best thing to hear.
Gayle Cole (5:47): And even though it's 1 to 10, you always have 2 staff members.
Bethany Williard (5:51): Oh yes. Oh yes. So even if we only have 2 kids at the end of the day, or 2 kids that happen to come for the day, we still have 2 staff. Yes, we always have to have 2 staff at all times as we maintain the rule of 3. So 3 people together at all times. So nobody is just one-on-one.
Gayle Cole (6:09): And when students come to afterschool, they need a combination of things, right? They need to do homework time, and they also need some outlets for play and creativity and socialization. How do you balance those things?
Bethany Williard (6:23): Yes, so they start the day and they start off with a snack and just a little social time for them to sit and chat with their friends, and then they do have 30 minutes of homework time where the staff are checking to see, you know, let me see the planners, let me see what your teachers have asked you to do for homework. So they're definitely following up and trying to get that homework done to help families when they get home at the end of the day to not feel the pressure to either have as much homework or any at all that they have to help their student with. And then they go outside and get some fresh air and enjoy the playground and some outdoor games with balls. Then they come back inside and they do different activities. They've been doing some social-emotional learning activities recently. They've played board games. They've done a huge array of different fun things and they keep adding to the day.
Gayle Cole (7:18): 4 days a week, Noble dismisses late in the afternoon, but on Wednesdays, so that teachers can have professional growth, the students go home at 1:45. Can you talk about what's special on Wednesdays for aftercare?
Bethany Williard (7:31): Yes, so we were like, wow, we have these kids for a lot longer because they're getting out early. What can we do to make the day fun and something different and exciting for them getting out of school? So we decided to bring them to the Spears YMCA every Wednesday, weather dependent, because we are walking there. And we're taking them swimming. So they get 45 minutes of swim time, which is so fun for the kids and the staff. And then they come back after the swim time and they have a normal after-school routine that they're used to. But Yes, being able to swim at the Y is just another way that we're able to— incorporate our programming with Noble's programming.
Gayle Cole (8:17): You mentioned at the top of the conversation that you're almost full but not quite full. If someone is listening and they want to take advantage of SKC this year or in the future, how would they go about getting that started?
Bethany Williard (8:30): Yes, so you just come to the Y to register to get your student signed up. We do offer kids to just sign up for Wednesdays only as just a Wednesday offering because it's an early release. However, we are currently full in that offering, but if we get enough people that are interested that want to do it, we would bring on another staff member to be able to offer it. Still keeping our 1 to 10 ratio. So if you're interested in Wednesdays and that is full, you can definitely reach out to me at the Y and I can take your information and get back to you about it. But if you want just the after-school program, you can come into the Y Monday through Friday from 8 to 6 and the staff can get you registered for it, or you can
Gayle Cole (9:19): And to wrap it up, is there anything that you wish every Noble family would know about the team caring for kids in our SKC every day?
Bethany Williard (9:29): Yes, so our team has to have CPR, first aid training. They have to go through child abuse prevention training. So they definitely get a lot of training to prepare them. And then we provide them with lots of resources to be able to do programming with the kids. And so we just, you know, because we have a long history of doing afterschool programs, we feel like we're definitely prepared to offer this program to the Noble community.
Gayle Cole (9:59): All right. Thank you so much for the great work you do. We really appreciate it.
Bethany Williard (10:03): Oh, thanks for having me.
Gayle Cole (10:04): Thanks for listening to the Blue and Gold Chat today. And big thanks to Noble's wonderful podcast producer and PFA president, Mr. Efren Rentería. To learn more about Noble Academy, explore our programs, or schedule a tour, visit us online at noblenights.org or connect with us on social media. See you next time.