In this episode of SPS Extra, Stephanie and Nicole talk with students and mental health experts about the benefits of participating in extracurricular activities. From elementary to high school, the students and their support systems see obvious benefits after being involved in their communities.

On every episode of SPS Extra, we feature student voice. Many of the students we've talked to told us they benefit from the extracurriculars they participate in. 

On the January episode of SPS Extra, we're focusing on the benefits extracurriculars bring students. We're chatting with a student counselor and expert in youth mental health, as well as several student clubs.

Stephanie and Nicole sat down with all five SPS Engagement Navigators to talk about extracurriculars during the Fall semester. Hear from each of them about what activities have been popular at different schools and what the plan is to keep students engaged in real life as the school year continues. 

The relationship between Spokane Public Schools and our numerous community partners is symbiotic, providing activities, support and community engagement for students, while bolstering the reach of our partners.

In the November episode of SPS Extra, Stephanie Splater and Nicole Hernandez chat about how important our community partners are. Hear from Hoopfest, Treehouse and Spark Central, and learn about how community partnerships are born.

"I think it's beneficial for everybody," Riley Stockton, Executive Director of Spokane Hoopfest said about the partnership between Hoopfest and Spokane Public Schools. 

Hoopfest is one of many SPS partners, all dedicated to providing students with more access and opportunity within the community. On this month's episode of SPS Extra, Stephanie Splater and Nicole Hernandez discuss the importance of community partnerships. 

Hear from Hoopfest, Treehouse and Spark Central, and learn what goes into developing and maintaining partnerships that are mutually beneficial.  

From the football field to the classroom, research proves youth involvement in extracurricular activities is beneficial, particularly when started at a young age.

In this months episode of SPS extra Stephanie Splater and Nicole Hernandez talk about those benefits, including higher performance in academics, lower rates of externalized problems and increased success in the activity.

"I can dream about these big things, since I'm really young," 6th grader Juliette Stevens said. 

Juliette has been participating in All-Star Cheer for five years. In just sixth grade, she is already attending the Ferris Cheer Clinic to prepare for the high school level. Not only does that participation help the Juliette, it also helps the high school teams whose participants come in with experience and knowledge. 

The five high school football coaches will be learning that soon, as the district's middle school football program started this year. Hear from North Central's coach and a student-athlete who has been committed to football since Kindergarten in the October episode of SPS Extra. 

In October’s episode of SPS Extra, Stephanie Splater and Nicole Hernandez are talking about the importance of getting students engaged in extracurriculars young. In this snippet from the podcast, hear from the North Central High School quarterback who has been playing football since he was in Kindergarten. 

The full podcast drops in one week! You can listen by searching for “SPS Podcasts” on your preferred podcast app or online at spokaneschools.org/listen.

In this month's episode of SPS Extra, hear from students about their passions and teachers who see first hand how phones have changed their classrooms. We're talking about the districts new initiative Engage IRL (In Real Life). 

We talk to students, teachers and staff about how critical it is to get students off their phones and engaged in extra curricular activities. Research shows anxiety and depression have more than doubled since 2010, and 95% of teachers say mental health is an issue in public schools.

To combat the mental health issues, SPS hired 5 new Engagement Navigators, whose jobs are dedicated to making sure every child is involved in at least one extracurricular activity. We talked with one of the Engagement Navigators about how they're planning on accomplishing that. 

SPS Extra is back! Here’s a snippet from this month’s podcast episode, which will be available Thursday, September 19th. 

In the  episode, we talk to students about they’re involvement in extracurriculars and staff about their role in getting students involved. Here, you’re hearing from students and staff at North Central High School’s summer band camp.

SPS launched Engage IRL this year, an initiative aimed at getting kids off cell phones and engaged in real life activities, both inside and outside the classroom. Students we talked to said the activities they’re involved in keep them grounded, which is testament to how important extracurriculars are. 

You can follow ‘SPS Podcasts’ on your preferred podcasting app to automatically have the latest episode uploaded to your library.

For this month's episode of SPS Extra, Stephanie and Taylor highlight the Northeast region of Spokane Public Schools. 

In-field interviews feature Rogers Football, Communities In Schools and 21st Century Learning, as well as the Esports team at NEWTech Prep.