Photo Courtesy of Nicole Van Slyke
Artist-educator Andrew Oesch leads a group of Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex students in an activity as part of the Hub’s Art and Design Lab ELO, provided by the RISD Museum of Art.
By Rebecca Keister PBN Staff writer Posted 1/7/13
Kerri Lemoie has her eye on the future.
As technical coordinator for the Providence After School Alliance’s The Hub and as owner of Codery, a Web startup in the city, she sees firsthand both the need for Rhode Island youths to fill their free time with productive endeavors and for businesses to help build employable skills within the student population.
So she was happy to sign on to PASA’s official pilot program for its Expanded Learning Opportunities project, which gives participating students graduation-applicable credits for out-of-classroom work experience.
“We need Web developers. Web development, as it’s being used, is not being taught in schools,” Lemoie said. “I thought of it as an opportunity to be able to teach these students actual employable skills but also soft skills [such as] resourcefulness and determination; skills I think are important for anybody to learn.”
The Expanded Learning Opportunities program in December marked its second semester of pairing students at the Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex in Providence with a dozen local organizations and businesses.
The spring 2012 pilot matched 32 students. The fall 2012 program matched 50.
Now the project is looking to expand its reach again, moving to an additional three Providence high schools within the next year, including Alvarez High School.