Celebrating With Lights On After-School
By Chelsea Jupin and Nicole Fogarty
It was hands on and lights on across Henry Street Settlement’s after-school program sites yesterday as they participated in Lights On After School, a nationwide event to promote after-school programs, encouraging supporters to help them to “keep the lights on”. At Henry Street, that meant celebrating the unique differences in the programs and demonstrating what makes them special.
At P.S. 20, Pre-K through 5th graders contributed original drawings create a mural covering the wall outside the after-school office, coming down in waves from their classrooms to put up their pieces and see the finished product.
“We wanted to have drawings from each grade as part of the mural, symbolizing our unity but also who the students are and who they’ll be as they grow through the years at after-school with us,” said After-School Coordinator Tiffany Rodriguez.
Speaking to this year’s theme of “Who we are and where we are going,” the art was covered in phrases like “I am a good friend,” I am a swimmer,” “I am an artist,” “I love after-school,” and more affirmations of each student’s unique personality and point of view.
At P.S. 134, kindergarten through 5th graders have been developing unifying “teams” for each class, as part of their yearlong look at diversity and studying different cultures and communities. Each “team” presented artwork with a team name, mascot and even a theme song that symbolized what made their team unique. The fifth graders, for example, picked the owl as their mascot because they are “older and wiser than the other classes.” The fifth graders also spoke to what their after-school program means to them, with one student saying, “after-school helped me be a better team player and learn new things. It provides me with the education I need to a better person.”
Over at Manhattan Charter School, students colored paper lightbulbs, symbolizing keeping the lights on at After-School, and put them all together to form one big “Lights On After-School” mural in the cafeteria.
At BGR/Cornerstone, the groups showcased a day in the life of the after-school program participants, with students presenting their future goals and what they hope to learn from the program this year. University Neighborhood Middle School ended their celebration with a parent and child basketball game.
There were more than 8,000 Light On After-school events nationwide with an estimated one million parents, students and staff participating.
After-school programming offered through Henry Street’s Education Services Division serves participants in a network of Lower East Side schools and community centers. The programs focus on encouraging positive social interactions, healthy attitudes and decision-making skills, tolerance, appreciation of differences and increased community involvement.
