When the day ends at Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School, many students decide to stick around for an extra hour or two. A new after-school program, which began in November, is full of exciting courses that allow students in grades 4-6 to enrich their minds.

Classes are held on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and Principal Robyn Santiago estimates that at least half of Park Avenue students are taking part in at least one course. The program includes robotics, French, martial arts, dance, art club and character education. There is also a math enrichment program. 

In the robotics class with fifth-grade teachers Paul Grasso and James Replak, students can use Lego robotics kits to build their own creations or explore computer programming by making simple video games using the Scratch coding language. The district’s French teacher, Brooke Prestano, is giving students an introduction to another spoken language, teaching them greetings, numbers, colors, animals and basic conversational phrases. 

Park Avenue has partnered with the United North Amityville Youth Organization to offer taekwondo, as well as character education and anti-bullying classes. The after-school program will continue until the end of the school year.  

“We are pleased at how popular our new after-school program has quickly become,” Ms. Santiago said. “The courses were created with student interests in mind and both the children and instructors have shown great enthusiasm. We hope this is only the beginning.”