By: Dan Sokil

SOUDERTON — Matt Rauch was supposed to be starting his second week of first grade Monday, but because of the Souderton Area Education Association's strike, he's having different kinds of fun instead.

"We've been doing all sorts of things to take advantage. We already went to the zoo, and went bowling the other day and it was weird because we were the only people there," said his mom, Meghan Rauch.

On Monday, Matt spent the afternoon at the Indian Valley Boys & Girls Club, practicing his skateboarding moves while his mom and sister watched from outside the fence.

"He'd be going into first grade at EMC," Meghan said. "He was very disappointed last Tuesday, because he was so excited for the first day of school."

Fortunately for Matt, the rest of his friends at the Boys & Girls Club were there extra early, from 1 to 7 p.m. instead of the normal hours of 3 to 9 p.m., to help take his (and their) minds off the strike.

"I hate the strike, because it's kind of boring to be home all the time," said sixth-grader Justin Sholly, helping out at the club's desk on Monday afternoon.

"I'm kind of mad that it happened, but I like helping out here, and I like watching people skate. I think I'll try it for the first time tomorrow," he said.

Upstairs, Justin's older brother Matt, who would be a junior at Souderton Area High School, has instead been spending his afternoons keeping an eye on younger kids, like would-be seventh-graders Anthony Nelligan and Nate Misrar.

"I don't like it, because I don't get to see my friends at school, and I don't like making my own

lunch every day; when I'm there I don't have to," Anthony said.

He and Nate usually spend their time at the Boys & Girls Club playing football over the summer, but can't figure out where most of their friends have gone since their teachers went on strike last week.

"There aren't enough people here to play football anymore, it's weird," said Nate, who's still having trouble getting used to being out of school.

"I guess being out this long, it's like, you never know how much you don't want something to happen until it does," he said.

Even the older teens like Matt, one of the Boys & Girls Club's teen counselors, can't help but wonder what else has been affected by the strike.

"I actually made a little speech at the last school board meeting. I was wondering, they're putting like 3,000 kids out on the streets, what do they think those kids are all going to do?" said Matt.

His theory is that most of them are staying home with their families, because the Boys & Girls Club has seen a dramatic drop-off in visitors since Tuesday, when the strike began.

"A lot of parents must have really changed their lives dramatically, because we had like 300 kids in here during the summer and now there are, how many, 30 or 40. I guess they're all staying home, but there's a lot of stuff they can do here," Matt said.

That includes video games, pool tables and, for teens like Gabriel Stangl-Richle, shooting hoops.

"Last week we went to Atlantic City, because it sounds like we won't be able to when it's time for our normal vacation," he said during a timeout for a water break. "Other than that I've just been coming here and hanging out a lot."

Incoming senior Sarah Luchansky has been working at the club too, but worries even more about the start of the school year.

That's probably because she is the editor in chief of the high school's student newspaper, The Arrowhead. Their most current issue is sitting in empty classroom, already out of date with sports scores and weather reports prepared for Sept. 2, the first day of school.

"People don't even realize what kind of ripple effect this strike has been having for us. We had like a three-week boot camp over the summer to get that thing ready, but as soon as anybody sees it the whole thing will be old news," Luchansky said.

"Then we have the October issue coming up, but can't come in and work on it, and we can't even talk to our teachers about it because they're out on the picket lines," she said.

Her graduation project, a soccer clinic she'll host at the Boys & Girls Club in October, may have to be pushed back too, but she doesn't even know when her date to present her project will be because of the uncertainty.

"Everything's so empty here, and it's not just affecting the kids who go to Souderton schools. The ones from everywhere else might think their friends aren't here, and then they don't come here either," Luchansky said.

And even though she loves the family atmosphere at the club, those AP exams and SAT tests are coming closer each day whether students are in school or not, and their vacations are getting shorter with each day the strike continues.

"I talked to a little girl today, and asked what school she's in, and she said, 'I'm not in school, my teachers are on strike, but I miss my school and I miss my friends.' I love my job, but I just want to be back in school too," she said.

For more information or to register for the Indian Valley Boys & Club, call (215) 723-2402 or visit www.ivbgc.org.