A highly esteemed after-school program will be instituted this year in the Tamaqua Area School District.

Superintendent Ray Kinder said at Tuesday's school district committee meeting that the SHINE program will get underway at Tamaqua Elementary.Kinder said the program is being offered through a 21st Century Learning Grant that was applied for by Lehigh Carbon Community College.He said the program will be open to Tamaqua Elementary students only, and that LCCC will provide hot meals.Kinder said there would be no cost to the district, other than the use of the Tamaqua Elementary building.The program will serve 15 kindergarten students, as well as 70 students in grades one through five, at Tamaqua Elementary, according to Rachel Strucko, director of the SHINE after-school program,Strucko said the grant is for $127,500 for each year, a total of three years, and noted that SHINE will bus all students either to their home or bus stop.She said the kindergarten students are served through home visiting, and will receive one hour of personalized home visit at their house for 40 weeks starting in October."And we work with the student on what's going on in the classroom, academics, STEM activities," Strucko said. "We try to empower those parents to join that learning process with their children."Strucko said all the children are referred either from the teacher, guidance counselor or the administrator.As for the 70 students in grades one through five, Strucko said the program will start at Tamaqua Elementary and run 36 weeks, four days a week, starting in October."We are going to continue doing our STEM programming in Tamaqua and integrate an art module for the students, which I'm super excited about," she said. "Pottery, painting, kind of a drama program, and with all the staff at the Tamaqua Community Art Center, will put on a big production at the end of year at (their) facility."Additionally, Strucko said SHINE is working with St. Luke's University Hospital as well on their Healthy You program, which focuses on healthy nutrition and getting up and moving as a family, as well as how important exercise is."Step-Up Tamaqua was a big advocate for us coming to Tamaqua," she said, adding that SHINE will work with organizations to work on making good decisions, the bullying issue and trying to strengthen families."We're hoping to combat some of those issues or stop them from occurring," she said.Strucko added, "the Tamaqua School District has been wonderful. Mr. Kinder has opened his doors. There's a lot of excitement in Tamaqua; we're really happy that we're going to be able to do this together.""I feel that Tamaqua as a community has a lot of strengths: the art center, hospital, school district, and the town itself I feel is very proud of their community, and I think this is a wonderful addition to Tamaqua," she said. "I think we're going to fit a piece that maybe they will need."She added, "I'm super excited; I think we're a necessary piece in that community. We're going to make a huge impact on children and families that really need SHINE. Over the next three years or longer, I think you will see a huge difference in what's happening in that community."Strucko noted this is SHINE's 13th year, and Tamaqua will be its 10th center.She said the program will serve more than 800 children every night in grades kindergarten through high school throughout Carbon and Schuylkill counties.