JACKSON — On Wednesday they stuck around to learn about worms. The day before that they made slime. Thursday they stayed late for build-your-own pizza.

Valeria Delacruz, 12, isn’t typically a pineapple-on-pizza kind of person, but she gave it a shot. Recreation, Academics and Dinner (RAD, for short) is, after all, a chance to try new things.

The middle school’s new afterschool program is also a way to offer students who aren’t already on a sports team or whose parents work late some much-needed structure and a safe place to be.

“We’re really trying to find that balance of providing structure and providing that place to ... expand friendships and meet new people,” said Ben Brettell, the program’s co-creator and a school social worker for Teton County School District No. 1.

“Our teaching staff stays through dinner, and it creates these informal mentor relationships where we can interact together outside of the classroom.”

Before a family-style meal Wednesday with her fellow middle schoolers and some enthusiastic educators, Valeria got help with her homework, pulling up the day’s assignments on an iPad. Other students used the opportunity to catch up on assigned reading.

And before that, school counselor Stephanie Sloan quizzed them on dirt facts, part of an ongoing series she’s leading that pairs horticulture with emotional wellness. The students have all planted their own tulip bulbs, practicing caretaking while also beautifying the school.

Sloan envisions their own greenhouse on the middle school lot at some point in the future.

She is just one of the guest stars making RAD, well, rad. The free afterschool program runs four days a week, every day but Friday, with visits from a different youth-serving agency each day.

With open enrollment, Brettell said they’ve seen steady growth each week, from less than a dozen kids to almost 30.

“The kids are our best recruiters,” he said.

Financial support for RAD came from federal American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds, which are meant to boost safe in-person instruction, remedy lost instructional time due to COVID-19 and meet students’ social, emotional, mental health and academic needs.

Two years into the pandemic, “a lot of us felt that lack of structure in a real way,” Brettell said. “We’re providing social interactions that a lot of us were missing.”

But Assistant Principal Holly Voorhees-Carmical also thinks it’s a model that will hold value even after students and staff recover from crisis mode.

“When you build something of value I think you can always find funding,” she said.

While some school employees are still feeling the stress of the pandemic and aren’t eager to extend their day for additional programming, Brettell said there’s been a lot of enthusiasm surrounding the project.

“My hunch is every single person who signed up to come after school for RAD is doing it because this is why we get into the profession. It’s such direct involvement in relationships with kids, and they get to support them in the academic side.”

As she logged on Wednesday to Canvas, checking her current homework load, Alexandra Hernandez said the extra assist from educators after hours has lowered her stress about assignments.

“It helps me relax, knowing I’ll have time to finish everything,” she said.

If effectively implemented, studies show after-school programs have the potential to improve academic performance, reduce adverse behaviors and boost self-esteem, particularly for at-risk youth.

Research also shows well-connected students have better life outcomes and may be buffered from other risk factors in their lives.

RAD isn’t limited to low-income families or students who are struggling, but its creators did reach out to specific people at the start who they thought might especially benefit from a more structured afternoon.

Other afterschool programs in town, like those at the Jackson Hole Children’s Museum, are limited to younger students and have limited enrollment. Teton Literacy Center’s middle school SPARK nights are only one day a week.

Valeria used to go to TLC, but now some of those same professionals come to her, proving public schools can be a resource beyond the school day.

Sarah Cavallaro of Teton Youth and Family Services, which comes to RAD on Tuesdays, said the RAD program fills what is typically a “dangerous, unsupervised time for kids.”

RAD is also a way for students to join clubs that aren’t otherwise accessible because of lack of transportation. Previously, kids who wanted to try climbing club at the high school wall or Assistant Principal Voorhees-Carmical’s sewing class (which she’s stoked on) had to forego the bus, which could strand them without a way home. For families working late, RAD’s 7 p.m. finish might be a bit more feasible.

As for what they’d like to see from the program in the future, Valeria’s friend, fellow sixth grader Ximena Sanchez Loyo, recommended a day devoted to TikTok.

Valeria didn’t like that idea, though. She had a suggestion of her own: DIY Olympics, and more pizza.