PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Herberg Middle School students on Wednesday performed and demonstrated the skills they learned for parents and families. 

 

Eighth-grader Elijah "Quinn" Bridges said the students had put sweat and tears into making their performances as good as possible for this  culmination of the fall quarter of the 21st Century program.

 

"It's amazing. They always amaze me. I think they're great kids and they do great work and then they go above and beyond whatever I can think they can accomplish," 21st Century District Coordinator David Kubicki said.

 

Students have the option to choose from theater, hiking, manga, chess, sewing, American Sign Language, taekwondo, science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics, and many more activities. 

 

During their time in their selected course, they build connections with staff, peers, and community partners. 

 

"It gives them an opportunity to create friendships, build connections with the staff, and to experience new things that they may not have experienced in their everyday lives … not just at Herberg, but at all of our programs in the district," Kubicki said. 

 

The district has five schools participating in the program. 

 

The connections that the students make with community partners exposes them to programs they would otherwise be unable to experience, 21st Century Site Coordinator Mallory D'Aniello said.

 

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers is a federally funded initiative to provide enrichment courses outside of school hours for children in high-poverty areas. The program serves 2 million youth nationwide.

 

The Pittsfield program partners with approximately 10 organizations including Berkshire Botanical Gardens, Berkshire Museum, Berkshire Theatre Group and Berkshire Hiking Families.

 

"[Berkshire Theatre's artistic associate in education] Kathy Jo Grover is an amazing woman. She is so sweet and caring and she really helps you when you don't understand things," eighth-grader Jolee Daoust said.

 

Grover teaches in both the Reid and Herberg program and said the biggest component of the program for her is to give students an open framework that goes beyond what they get in their regular day. 

 

By the time they get to the afternoon program, they are exhausted from the stress of the day so the program also attempts to focus on the social emotional learning component of it, she said. 

 

"My goal is to just have them see if they're interested in theater but also enjoy themselves and go home happier than when they showed up at 3:30, if that's possible," Grover said.

 

The program also helps teachers build relationships with the students and adds to the culture of the school, Kubicki said.

 

"My goal is to kind of expand the program and get it into a bunch of different schools and really kind of help the kids in all Pittsfield Public Schools," he said. 

 

The program also allows students to interact with peers that they are unable to during the school day allowing them to build more relationships, added D’Aniello said. 

 

"21st Century has provided me almost like a second family at school. Everyone's very welcoming and you feel like you belong there," Jolee said.

 

Many participants noted that the program provides an outlet to both learn and express themselves, that the skills they learn include life lessons and that it helps them academically.

 

"Theater in general, not just the program, but theater in general, has really told me that it is OK to make mistakes," sixth-grader Daniel Tyer said. "I messed up once during rehearsal and I just ran off stage, but then I walked back in and I did it anyway. And I'm pretty sure Kathy Jo mentioned that if you mess up, you just gotta keep going."

 

Quinn added that Berkshire Theatre Group helped him balance socializing and listening, which helped him pay better attention during his academics.

 

Students, parents, teachers and partners said the program is a safe, fun space for students to go after school to receive academic help and explore new activities to become well rounded students.

 

"21st Century provides opportunity and that's the biggest thing. A lot of times students don't necessarily know what they are looking for, or they're not exposed to certain things," said Thomas Brown, a taekwondo grandmaster at Martial Arts Institute of the Berkshires in Great Barrington.

 

"And by having that exposure, it gives them the freedom and opportunity to be creative with what they want to do in life. I would like to see this program continue on as long as possible."

 

Some students, like eighth-grader Tyler Blake, said it helped them deal with stage fright.

 

"It's helped me get over a lot of my anxiety, which I really struggle with. It's helped me get closer with some of my people," Tyler said. "I would recommend it to someone who is very quiet because it gets you in front of a bunch of people and you just realize it's really OK to do these things and be in front of people and talk in front of people. It's a normal thing."

 

By the end of the year, the program will have served approximately 100 students at Herberg. 

 

"My youngest child, Daniel Tyer, participated in the theater part of 21st Century and it's a wonderful program and something that we need to keep in the schools," Bill Tyer said. 

 

"We have so much money to spend on other things. We need to spend it on these programs, not just for my child. Every kid in the city of Pittsfield deserves to have an outlet, and this is a great outlet for them and I think it's money well spent."