Steering towards 'at promise' student-athlete success with variety of innovative STEER summer programs
July 20, 2023 at 12:19 a.m.
More than 60 "at promise" Port Chester seventh to 12th graders are scoring in and out of the classroom as part of an innovative STEER for Student Athletes summer training program.
STEER, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping talented student-athletes become the best they can be, defines an "at promise" student-athlete as "someone who, by virtue of their circumstance, may be exposed to risk factors but possesses unique qualities and talents that contribute to positive development."
Range of programs
That dedication has led to STEER developing a far-reaching summer learning program that takes participants into venues ranging from TV broadcasting to project and work-based learning and from STEM Camps (STEM being the acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to softball and volleyball camps and supervised LIFT gym and aerobics workouts.
And the program has been proving extremely beneficial.
The Bruce Beck Broadcasting Camp, for example, has been running Monday through Thursday from July 17 through July 20 at Iona College with the last on-campus Thursday class leading into a final session Friday (7/21) at Yankee Stadium. That means Lady Ram student-athletes such as Skylar Sams, Kaitlyn Farias, Daisy Aguilar and Alison Lopez have been working closely with famed sports announcers like Beck and National Basketball Association/Madison Square Garden pro Knicks broadcaster Mike Breen while learning the ABCs that go into being a media professional, from interviewing techniques to reading from a teleprompter.
From WBL to PBL
Ex-Ram football and Track & Field great Jordan Lewis, a recent graduate of SUNY Cortland, served as STEER student supervisor for the broadcasting program. And Sams learned so much from the program last year—including interviewing former Knicks basketball ace Rod Strickland—that she took the course again this year.
In the Work Based Learning (WBL) program, STEER specialist Chaquon Jones-Hollis has been working with Aguilar, Lopez, Samantha (Sam) Munoz, Heidi Gonzalez and Julian Lopez, discussing things like how to be properly prepared to start a job, from understanding taxes to pay stubs to resolving workspace conflicts. Other subjects include such basics as how to write a cover letter and resume.
In Project Based Learning (PBL), students are involved in planning and participating in community service work to help fight food and nutrition insecurity in Port Chester.
STEM & SCORP
STEM Camp includes 12 educational workshops that began July 6 and run through Aug. 11 every Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at STEER headquarters, 304 Midland Ave., Port Chester. The interactive workshops include topics such as STEM career exploration, skill building, and leadership along with work-based learning opportunities and mentorship by STEM professionals. The sessions are part of what is called the STEM Career Opportunity Readiness Program (SCORP). It is designed to foster STEM career pathways for underrepresented minority (URM) students and promote equity by providing STEM career readiness opportunities access to students who would not typically have access to them.
As part of the program, students also take workshops in financial literacy and hard sciences like biology, chemistry, physics, space, technology, engineering and environmental science. And they have to work on a project to positively impact their community. Participating student-athletes include Isabella Farias, Bayron Aguirre, Daisy Ayavaca, Valeria Novoa, Xavier Merrill, Jevon Bolt, Marleen Granda, Franchesca Paz Baez, Erik Coria, Jaden Brown, Nataly Suertegaray, Yanamiris Tejeda, Leslie Reyes, Jayden Martinez, Kimberly Flores, Tamara Correia, Colin Taylor, Jadalyn Moscoso Gonzalez, Adrian Osorio, Sophia Maldonado and Christian Flores. Flores is also participating in a separate STEM program at Mercy College.
Softball and LIFT
And so it goes from softball camp conducted by Lady Rams head coach Jeanine Maiolini, also a STEER advisor, and attended by Sams, Farias, Marisbel Rodriguez, Yvonne Santiago, Sam Munoz, Heidi Gonzalez, Melina Morban and Arianna Ortiz to the LIFT Program which runs Monday through Thursday from 3:45 to 6:30 p.m. at SUNY Purchase College. That program is run by LIFT owner Matt Tauber and consists of strength and agility training in the gym with additional aerobic conditioning outdoors. Participants include Daniela Lopez, Kimberly Flores, Yvonne Santiago, Nick Pereira and Logan Kuhn. Attendees at various other sports camps include Sams, Kimberly and Brandon Flores, Yvonne Santiago, Julian Lopez, Kayleeh George, Enrique Rojas, Izeyah Fentress and Justin Tenezaca.
STEER student-athletes have been busy working on a wide variety of summer programs in and out of the classroom. That should result in improved results on and off the playing fields during the upcoming school year as well as in their future careers in the years to come.
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