After-school club in Painesville teaches boys practical life skills

Nov. 2—A group of teachers and staff in one Painesville City elementary school is going beyond typical school subjects to teach fourth- and fifth-grade boys practical life skills.

The Elm Street Elementary Boys Club is now in its second year under the oversight of fifth-grade teacher Rich Gersten, English Language Development teacher Keith McCrory and district paraprofessional Mike Kline.

According to Gersten, the club meets after school every other week to teach 32 of the school's students practical life skills such as cooking, power tools, laundry and proper table etiquette.

He said that Elm Street's older boys expressed interest in a club after the school launched a club for girls, which The News-Herald featured after its 2019 launch. In response to frequent student requests, Gersten, McCrory and Kline met and created the group during the 2021-22 school year.

"The boys for probably, like, a month straight, every single day would ask me, 'When are we going to do a boys club? When are we going to do a boys club?'" Gersten said. "So, they kind of were actually the ones who asked for it."

Fifth-grader Giovanni Torres-Montes said that learning how to cook has been one of his favorite club activities because it will allow him to prepare food when his parents are not home. Fellow fifth-grader Zaid Marrero-Pacheco added that he hopes to help his mom cook.

Kline is a former chef and has taught the students how to make foods like breakfast sandwiches and pancakes, Gersten said, adding that these are "little things that they can do hopefully to get them a little more vested in the kitchen to care for themselves."

The students have also practiced outdoor activities including fishing and disc golf, he noted.

Marrero-Pacheco added, "Fishing is kind of fun because you get to try to find your own food and then after you are done taking a picture, then you toss it back in and then you feel like you've done something."

Janluca Gomez-Martinez said that in addition to cooking and fishing, which have been his favorite activities, the boys have also learned sports and proper manners, among other activities. The fifth-grader said that he joined the club to "learn more about being a gentleman."

The club's organizers have also taught students how to use power tools, demonstrate proper table etiquette, wash clothes, sign signatures, tie ties, write notes expressing gratitude and work on cars, said Gersten. They also learned games such as four square, kickball and dodgeball.

"I think it could teach me things that I might need to know growing up," said fifth-grade student Alessandro Padilla, citing the lesson on fixing cars as one example.

According to Gersten, students have also enjoyed helping their peers with lessons and competing with them in sports.

The club's members had the opportunity to put some of their skills to use at the end of the last school year, Gersten said, when they ate a spaghetti dinner at Hellriegel's Inn. Students wore dress clothes and ties, with teachers at the school helping students who needed clothes. Painesville City Schools Superintendent Josh Englehart, Assistant Superintendent Mike Chokshi and Elm Street Principal Ed Yeomans joined them.

"We were just honored to be part of it," Englehart said, adding, "It's one of the highlights of my work over the last several years, if not for my whole career, to be able to just sit and be with kids and hear them talk about the things that they've learned and the skills that they're putting into practice."

This year the club will add more outdoor activities including disc golf and fishing as well as a partnership with the district's football program, Gersten said. The advisors also aim to bring in business leaders from various professions to speak to the boys.

"The idea is to try to create that community of being together and how to be gentlemen," he said. "It's the biggest thing that we just want to promote, is how to be a gentleman, how to be a decent member of society and productive member of society."

Membership in the club is limited to about 30 fourth- and fifth-grade students who receive a parent signature and teacher recommendation, Gersten noted. The club will take extra students at a teacher recommendation and has had 32 students both years. Fifth-graders are given first priority.

"It was probably some of the most memorable moments I had as a teacher coming from these students last year and even into this year," he said.