After school activities that combine help with homework, opportunities for physical activities and learning new skills are the hallmarks of the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, funded by New York state for five years. Now in its third year, Director Maria Oliver-Flores gave an update on the program at the November 19 Board of Education meeting.
The proposal for the $1.2 million five-year grant was written by the late Dan Callahan who was Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education at the district. The former name of the program was the Learning Enrichment Activities Program (LEAP), and officials still refer to the popular program as the “LEAP Program.”
The program runs for three hours a day on weekdays at Oakside Elementary School, Hillcrest Elementary School, and Peekskill Middle School. Students from grades two through eight are provided with an hour and a half of academic support, increased levels of community collaboration, food, and enrichment and youth development activities.
Activities across the three schools range from Mandarin lessons or learning a dance from Indian culture, a math and drone program, reading programs, girls workshops, capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines acrobatics, dance and music), yoga, as well as being able to create movies with Legos.
“You can walk and look around and [students] will not look up because they are so engaged,” Oliver-Flores said. “They develop their scenery. They have a huge box of Legos and they decide what their characters are going to look like, what their storyline is.”
Another activity Oliver-Flores highlighted was taking a group of girls to the Gymnastics City in Cortlandt Manor for eight weeks to learn the basics of gymnastics.
Some accomplishments of the program so far, Oliver-Flores shared, was a summer program which had 213 students enrolled, 26 enrichment activities, and the implementation of an educational liaison role that reviews activities and makes tweaks to the program.
The program is projected to have 575 students attend by the end of each school year. They reached this goal last year and currently have 486 students who have participated this year.
A sustainability plan is being worked on to strategize how to keep the grant going after the five years is over, Oliver-Flores said. Superintendent Dr. David Mauricio commended the program, saying it brings cost savings to parents and activities that bring great equity to the school district. “You need to take this to the state level and show their school districts how an after school program can be run with the fiscal support that we get,” he said.
Jillian Villon, a Board of Education Trustee asked Oliver-Flores if there were any boy targeted programs in addition to several girl targeted programs. Oliver-Flores said they have a young men’s leadership academy in the middle school, a dance program for boys, and that most programs are co-ed.
One of the girl targeted programs, Nature Girls, came about because research showed girls around fourth and fifth grade weren’t as interested in math and science, Oliver-Flores said. “We thought bringing something like the Nature Girls really would enhance that excitement in them,” Oliver-Flores said. “We are doing a similar program with the boys, more locally (with) gardening projects, and other activities.”
The Nature Girls program is provided Thursdays 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. with busing provided. It is a free after school program for Hillcrest School 5th graders where girls learn about cooperation, science, outdoor skills, hands-on STEM activities, and leadership skills. Those interested in signing up can contact Jamie Rossi at [email protected] or at (914) 739-2284.
Trustee Amy Vele said she thought the program was a good model for community building. “I look forward to seeing where all of these students go in the future,” she said. “And I think that these are the kind of things that really grow a student into an individual in our society. We need it more than ever.”
