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WILKES-BARRE — Jayden McCloe took obvious delight in showing state Sen. John Yudichak the screen that created a three-dimensional view of things like the human body — as long as you wore the funky shades. But when Yudichak stepped to the podium to praise both the SHINE after-school program at Kistler Elementary and the National Lights On After School event SHINE was holding, he offered an account that was not very flattering — to himself.
“She said when she was younger, she saw a video of this, and now she was using it,” Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, said. “When I asked how the senator did, she said C-minus.
“I try to do my best,” he added with a smile.
The Kistler location is the latest expansion of the SHINE program in Luzerne County. It started the first week of school, giving students a meal, homework help and about two hours of after-school options in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) projects. Thursday’s event was partly to show off what the students have been doing, partly to celebrate the Lights On effort to highlight the need to fund after school programs, and to cut a ribbon for the center.
Yudichack and others praised the program and the private and public financial backing that keeps SHINE going. As they spoke, a 3-D printer hummed along softly on a table, creating a plastic bolt and a companion knurled nut. Various small projects made of LEGO bricks and other building toys stood on a neighboring table.
Wilkes-Barre Area School District Director of Administrative & Student Services Rochelle Koury noted that there isn’t enough time and resources to give students the same opportunities during regular classes. “So many things we are not able to do in our classroom, SHINE is able to do,” she said.
After the speeches and before a meal and a celebratory cake, the crowd strolled past tables with displays of different forms of energy the students had been exploring, including wind, biomass, and water power.
Nathan Torna had helped make one of the “water wheels” on display, foam plates taped together with paper cups attached to the edges as the “paddles.” He beamed when dad Jesus talked about how thrilled he had been when he finished it, then the 6-year-old hid behind his dad’s leg.
“He loves the program,” Jesus said. “I love the program.”
