SHINE celebrates its 20th annual Lights On afterschool program

The Carbon and Schuylkill County SHINE Program held its 20th annual National Lights On Afterschool Celebration at Jim Thorpe Senior High School on Thursday.

Throughout the event, in between entertainment acts performed by participating students, speakers shared details about the program.

One of the speakers was Rachel Strucko, director of the SHINE program.

“Unexpected things happen to change the fabric of communities all the time — I believe that SHINE is that to our community,” Strucko said.

In the SHINE program, the students learn about empathy and are encouraged to talk about how they make others feel. The children learn how to be on opposing teams and still be friends.

“SHINE means different things for everyone — career exploration, emotional learning, a safe place, a hot meal and a friend,” Strucko said.

The children of SHINE put on a fashion show at the gathering where they showed the jewelry they made in class. They first learned about the science of making jewelry, and then did it themselves.

The kids who attend the afterschool program also performed a red-carpet event where various students pretended to be different characters. One student sang as Moana from a Disney movie, and another quoted various lines from the movie “Mask.”

At one point during the presentation, the director asked for the lights to be dimmed, and the students came out to perform dance routines. Two groups came out; Lehighton kids used glow sticks and another district used lights they created using copper wiring and what they learned about simple circuits.

We use STEAM instead of STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics,” Strucko said.

The STEAM method encouraged the children to create using all parts of their brain, their logical side, as well as their artistic side.

The program recently allowed Weatherly students to join the program. The Weatherly students showed up to the event wearing their paper plate masks and the shirts they made.

“I was never in SHINE before, but now I am — and I made this myself,” one of the Weatherly children said.

The program has a 100% parent satisfaction rate, the director said.

A video showed how parents feel about SHINE.

“When I think of SHINE, I think of structure — they learn in a different way other than textbooks and paper,” a parent of a SHINE student said.

Other parents swore by the program’s effectiveness in reading, writing and social skills.

“Since my child’s homework is already done by the time they get home, we can have more family time,” another parent said.

The teachers said they are just as proud of the kids as their parents.

A teacher at Panther Valley explained how the children created a multimedia video that was played for the audience.

The kids used a green screen to put themselves in different locations; one student chose a beach and another chose Hollywood.

“This is one of those programs in Carbon and Schuylkill County that changes lives,” said Melanie A. Turrano, LCCC interim dean of humanities.

About 600 students attended the Lights On Afterschool Celebration.

Near the end of the celebration, a child asked for the microphone and spoke on behalf of his classmates.

“I love SHINE!” he said.