The YES Program, Youth Enrichment Services, has expanded to two more Baldwin County schools this year — Blandy Hills and Midway Elementary — and so far the program has been met with a positive response.

Midway had its first fall festival for the program on Friday to give fifth grade students a fun-filled after school day of indoor and outdoor activities including a candy corn catch, pumpkin golf, math coloring, musical hats and pumpkin bowling.

Midway currently offers YES to only fifth-graders, but the school is planning to include fourth-graders in program next month. Midway’s YES Education Coordinator Lisa Koehler said the program could not be more helpful to the students and she is ecstatic to be part of the program.

“I enjoy watching kids smile. They’re still at school but they don’t mind it,” Koehler said. “Two kids came up to me one day and said ‘can I skip enrichment day and do homework?’ That’s awesome.”

This year, all students from Blandy, Eagle Ridge, Midway, Oak Hill and Baldwin High enrolled in YES have academic help and have participated in activities such as violin, orchestra, drumming, theater, arts, digital photography, dance, tennis, Spanish, martial arts and more. Midway Spanish teacher Chenda Baetly said teaching the fifth-graders is enjoyable since she loves to work with kids.

“If it wasn’t for the YES program, these kids wouldn’t have the chance to learn Spanish. We play a lot of games to make it fun and to help them learn.”

Georgia College & State University Director of Grants Proposal Development and Special Projects Linda Watson-Kaufman said the goal of YES is to be productive but fun at the same time. Since Midway began offering the program in September, Kaufman has been impressed with the teachers and how supportive they are of the program’s mission.

“[Midway’s] staff members helped students in becoming academically successful,” Kaufman said. “I will be surprised if there aren’t significant gains because teachers are doing a great job.”

The YES program is funded by the Georgia Department of Education through a grant awarded by the 21st Century Community Learning Center and the program’s mission is to raise achievement and educational aspirations for students in grades 3 through 12 each school day between 3 and 5 p.m. The program is a partnership involving Georgia College, the Baldwin County Board of Education and Baldwin County Parks and Recreation. They YES Program ultimately aims for students to work together in order to build a whole community that says “yes” to making promises come true.

For general information about YES, contact YES personnel at Eagle Ridge, Midway, Blandy Hill, Oak Hill Middle or Baldwin High; or call Linda Watson-Kaufman (478) 445-0145 or Richard Hartry (478) 454-9012).