New Rams Rising program aims to give vulnerable PCMS students ‘a fair chance’
August 24, 2023 at 1:15 a.m.
During the 2021-22 school year, the Port Chester School District established the Principal’s Promise Academy at the high school as an attempt, which has thus far seen success, to address a reality that administrators are well aware of: the traditional education model does not work for all students.
The program essentially reimagines the school day, giving additional resources and one-on-one attention to students who are at risk of not graduating. But when students struggle, it rarely begins when they’re in high school.
Thus, in the same vein, a new program is coming to Port Chester Middle School this year to address a similar type of need. Rams Rising, as described by Port Chester Superintendent Dr. Aurelia Henriquez, its an initiative deemed imperative for the sake of equity.
“Rams Rising is based on the fundamental belief that it takes a village to raise and educate a child,” Henriquez said. “It’s very much about allowing our students to pursue their dreams and goals and fulfill all they possibly can by us coming together as a community.”
While program details are still being worked out, the vision is finite.
Rams Rising is slated to consist of 15-20 Port Chester Middle School students whom administrators have identified as being the most vulnerable—students in need of support because they experience challenges beyond the bounds of the school day.
“We’re looking for certain trends like absenteeism and students who perhaps had some discipline issues or concerns last year,” Henriquez said. “Students who might need additional social-emotional learning and mental health support.”
“We need to give these students support that’s been missing for generations, really,” said Port Chester Middle School co-Principal Patrick Swift, describing the reality many students of working families face: going home to an empty house, left to their own devices, at the end of the school day.
Ultimately, Henriquez said the district is striving to become a part of the My Brother’s Keeper community, an Obama-era federal and New York State Education Department program that provides grants, networking opportunities and resources dedicated to the goal of “eliminating the opportunity gap” largely faced by students of color.
Rams Rising, administrators hope, will help them segway into that community—giving way to more opportunities to address the needs of students in vulnerable situations.
Children invited into Rams Rising will, on a regular basis, participate in a program during the after-school hours that connects them to community mentors.
For the last week, the Port Chester School District has been collecting contact information from prospective volunteers looking to serve as mentors. Because they’ve received “a significant enough number of applications,” Henriquez said they’ll be closing the portal soon.
It’s desired for the six to eight mentors who will eventually partner with the school district to be active community members who take to heart the task of helping students navigate through life while serving as inspirational role models.
“We’re really looking for mentors that can relate to this group of students. In other words, they have similar backgrounds, similar family lives. It would be wonderful if they were Port Chester graduates themselves,” Henriquez explained, and later added: “The individuals who have volunteered to be a part of this are individuals that are well known, that are active already with our students in the community.”
Port Chester folks involved with community organizations and youth athletics programs have expressed eager interest, Henriquez said, while noting that throughout the program mentors will never be alone with the children—she and the middle school co-principals will be actively present.
During the Rams Rising sessions, mentors and students will ideally be partaking in a variety of activities—from basketball scrimmages to volunteer sessions in the middle school’s food pantry and Giving Garden—while forming encouraging connections amongst themselves.
“It’s about assisting us with encouraging our young people to believe in themselves,” Henriquez said. “We’re doing this through an equity lens.”
Bryant Romano, the new co-principal of Port Chester Middle School, said the program will allow the district to ensure that they are caring for students when the school day is over.
Comparing it to similar initiatives he was involved in as an educator in New York City: “We didn’t have a cool name like Rams Rising, but we were always thinking about ways to support our youth to keep them from getting in trouble and letting them understand that they’re important, they matter, and teach them ways to cope and become wonderful citizens.”
“We want to ensure that our kids are doing OK. And that ties in that equity piece, because not everyone can afford to take (enriching classes) after school,” Romano continued. “Sometimes kids just need something else, and this may be that something else that they need. It’s really about being equitable, supporting all students who we’re finding are doing things that they shouldn’t be doing and giving them a fair chance.”
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