Supporting Regulation, Resilience, and Engagement in Colorado Afterschool Programs
After-school in Colorado Is Essential and Demanding
Across Colorado — from rural districts to urban communities — afterschool programs serve students with diverse backgrounds, needs, and challenges.
Many programs supported through 21st Century Community Learning Centers and community-based partnerships are working with youth who:
- Struggle with regulation and behavior
- Experience disengagement or inconsistent attendance
- Carry stress from academic and home environments
- Need safe, relational spaces to reset and reconnect
Afterschool staff are expected to support social-emotional development, enrichment, and positive youth development, often with limited time, training, and capacity. You need tools that strengthen what you already do.
How WhyTry Supports Colorado Afterschool Programs
Built for Real-World Youth Settings
WhyTry provides flexible, discussion-based tools that help students:
- Regulate emotions in the moment
- Understand how their choices affect their future
- Connect effort to goals
- Build resilience when facing setbacks
- Strengthen peer and adult relationships
For afterschool teams, this means:
- No heavy lesson prep
- No counseling background required
- Tools that work in small groups, mentoring blocks, or informal conversations
- A shared language staff can use across grade levels
Whether your program serves elementary students in a small rural district or middle and high school youth in a large metro area, WhyTry adapts to your setting.
Supporting 21st CCLC Goals and Youth Development Outcomes
Many Colorado afterschool programs operate under 21st CCLC grants or similar funding streams that emphasize:
- Academic engagement
- Positive youth development
- Social-emotional growth
- Family and community connection
- Attendance improvement
WhyTry aligns naturally with these goals by helping students develop resilience, self-regulation, and goal-directed behavior — skills that directly impact both school-day success and out-of-school-time engagement.
The approach supports grant objectives without requiring programs to overhaul their structure or identity.
What It Looks Like After School
Practical Applications in Colorado Programs
Programs across the country use WhyTry in:
- 10–20 minute small group discussions
- Engaging group activities that teach
- Relevant videos and stories
- Processing that creates understanding
- Resilience booster activities for students
- Strategies for building relationships
Because the tools are visual, activity, and discussion-based, they work across elementary, middle, and high school settings — making them ideal for programs serving multiple grade levels.
Supporting the Adults Who Support Students
Colorado afterschool professionals are deeply committed to youth — but many report feeling stretched when supporting students with big emotions or behavior challenges.
WhyTry helps build:
- Staff confidence in handling difficult conversations
- Consistent messaging across team members
- Clear strategies for redirecting behavior
- A shared framework for resilience and effort
When staff feel equipped, students feel supported. WhyTry provides training and ongoing coaching for staff, helping them build the relationships and relevance needed to engage every student.
Ready to see how WhyTry can strengthen your afterschool program?
Schedule a demo with one of our WhyTry program directors, and they can answer your questions, show you details on how it works, and help you see what WhyTry can do to support your out-of-school-time program schedule.
Why Choose The WhyTry Program?
Proven Experience
With over 20 years of success, we understand the challenges teachers and counselors face. We have practical interventions and strategies that work.
Engaging Interventions
Our toolkit gets students excited about learning and improves behavior. Teachers and counselors who use WhyTry often say they rediscover the joy of education!
Enhanced Teamwork
Our approach provides a common language and framework for staff and administrators, enabling your entire team to collaborate and communicate better.
Ashley Wright
“When you can see the purpose of each WhyTry lesson and use the attention grabbers, music, and metaphors to reach the kids with targeted interventions, WhyTry can help you achieve your goals. We saw a significant decrease in the number of referrals.”
Katelynn Flynn
“I have to say, the hands-on activities were perfect in portraying the message, and we had so many great discussions as a result. In fact, we saw a measurable change with our group. Our students made much better decisions going forward.”
Beth Foster
I’m a teacher at heart, and having WhyTry in my toolkit gives me the flexibility to introduce main parts of the program in my guidance classes, and then I can pull in more content as the kids progress through different grades. It works seamlessly for me.”