Current research evidence strongly suggests that regular participation in quality after school programs enhances youth achievement in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Quality after school programs typically include academics, enrichment activities, social and behavioral interventions, sports and recreational activities, and psychological services. In order for after school programs to achieve desired outcomes, the key element is to recruit and retain youth participation in all grade levels. Unfortunately, recruiting and retaining participants is a common challenge among many after school programs. The purpose of this study was to examine youth participation in after school programs across all school grade levels. Data on student grade level and gender were obtained from 312 after school programs located in a Southeast state of the United States. In total, data on 44,411 after school program participants were provided by the sampled programs. Calculation of description statistics revealed that the participating student population in the sampled after school programs was composed of 56.5% elementary school students (pre-kindergarten to fifth grade), 31.8% middle school students (sixth grade to eighth grade), and 11.7% high school students (ninth grade to twelfth grade). At each grade level, male and female participants equally accounted for 50.0% of the youths. Curvilinear regression analysis revealed that a significant quadratic relationship existed between school grade and the number of program participants (R2 = .786; F = 18.42; p < .001). More specifically, an incremental trend was exhibited between pre-kindergarten to third grade; a plateau trend existed between third grade and seventh grade; and a decreasing trend was exhibited from seventh grade to twelfth grade. Examination of the homogeneity of regression lines between genders revealed that the quadratic relationships between school grade and number of program participants were essentially identical. These findings indicate that after school program activities were generally more attractive to youth in third to seventh grades; conversely, the program activities appeared less attractive to youth before the third grade and after the seventh grade. The findings may also indicate that after school programs have had greater success recruiting students between third and seventh grades, as well as greater challenges retaining students after the seventh grade. Apparently, greater efforts are needed for after school programs to develop marketing strategies and more attractive curriculum to appeal to a greater proportion of middle and high school students.Keyword(s): participatory, youth-at-risk