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A collaborative effort between The Project Matters [TPM] and Lakehouse Music Academy helped grow Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School’s varied All Stars Afterschool Program.

“The foundation donated nine guitars so we could start our class and visited our students,” said Mt. Carmel Program and Outreach coordinator Connie Isbell. “It was really quite touching.”

The Freehold based nonprofit was created in 2010 in the memory and to honor Benjamin High, the founder of Green Arrows band. TPM helps burgeoning you musicians under age 21 with everything from financial assistance to legal counsel. The city’s own Lakehouse Academy provided the instructors.

“This is such a nice example of how people come together to help make this [afterschool] program such a success for our Asbury students,” Isbell said.

Founded in 1923, Mt. Carmel’s students were primarily comprised of Italian immigrants’ children. During the 2004-2005 there were only 124 students and the school was at great risk of being closed. Today the 218 student body consists Italian American, African American, Haitian and a 70% Hispanic population.

Because many of the students reside in the city’s economically challenged neighborhoods, 90% of student body are recipients of a free or reduced lunch program. Tuition remains minimal and collected on a sliding scale basis. The $300,000 in tuition collected annually equates to less than half of the operating budget. Assistance comes from their many benefactors, Diocesan tuition and budgetary assistance, fundraising efforts.

Now in its fourth year, the All Stars program includes Robotics, learning capoeira, playing in a rock band, exploring marine science, conducting energy audits, designing rollercoasters, and learning the science behind superheroes, Isbell said.

“The program works hard to provide more than a hundred All Stars students with a creative assortment of enrichment opportunities, five days a week,” she said.

The STEAM themed program reinforces Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. Students choose from more than 35 offerings for each of the three, 10-week sessions.

“Sometimes there are two classes I want to take,” said Stephani, a fifth grade participant.  “I wish I could pick them both!”

Also new this year are “Hip Hop Oratory,” taught by Angela Ahbez Anderson. The program places a playful and relevant twist on public speaking.

Students in “Club Invention,” a project backed by the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, are challenged to invent ways to tackle the real world problem of ocean trash, Isbell said.

“Survival Science,” is a collaboration with the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore that teaches students how science intersects with outdoor skills.

“We couldn’t offer this kind of programming without collaborators like Lakehouse and Girl Scouts,” Isbell said. “They bring not just talent and experience, but resources and long-term relationships.”

The All Stars Program is funded by the 21st Century Community Learning Center federal grant. It provides a healthy snack, homework help, and enrichment activities for more than a hundred Asbury Park students in grades 4 through 8. A privately funded companion program provides afterschool activities for grades 1 to 3.

Mt. Carmel also has a homework hour, manned by their educators.

For more information about the All Stars Program, visit their website or Facebook page.

[photos courtesy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School]

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