The Lehigh Carbon Community College Carbon and Schuylkill SHINE Afterschool Program is proving that it is doing something right.

The program, which aims to help elementary students, was recently highlighted in a number of national publications as a model that works."I'm extremely, overwhelmingly proud of being highlighted," said Jeanne Miller, director of the SHINE Afterschool program. "I am proud of the teachers and staff that work with SHINE. We always say one of the things that make the program work is the 'whatever it takes' attitude we have to guarantee students have the opportunity to succeed."Inside the publications"How Cross-sector Collaborations are Advancing STEM Learning," written by Kathleen Traphagen and Saskia Traill for the Noyce Foundation, focuses on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) learning ecosystems and how partnerships between schools, policymakers, families and other agencies build a winning strategy for enriching children in the classroom.The article emphasizes that learning ecosystems have the potential to enable children's understanding of cross-cutting concepts; build scientific practice skills and knowledge through multiple exposures and experiences; spark and nurture interest in STEM by exposing children to STEM professionals and a variety of STEM career options; ensure that children build complex skills to help with problem-solving and team building; increase understanding and build capacity among parents and caregivers to support a child's learning; and implement creative and diverse methods of assessment.Highlighting 15 of the thousands of afterschool programs nationwide, the paper includes programs from New York, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon and Pennsylvania."Taking a Deeper Dive into Afterschool: Positive Outcomes and Promising Practices," published by the Afterschool Alliance in Washington, D.C., looks at evidence that "confirms quality afterschool programs help children become more engaged in school, reduce the likelihood of taking part in at-risk behaviors or acting out in school, and help raise their academic performance."It states that there are more than 15 million children who have no adult supervision after the school day ends. This is where afterschool programs help bridge that gap. They create quality learning environments that engage students through fun educational activities, while keeping them safe until parents are home from work.The paper highlights seven programs across the country, including programs from Illinois, Rhode Island, California, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, and looks at the areas of school attendance, academic performance and building effective partnerships with teachers, schools, the community and families.The paper also highlights data collected by SHINE evaluators between 2005 and 2012, which found that 90 percent of SHINE participants attended school regularly and didn't have an attendance problem; three-quarters of the students made improvements in reading and math skills; 94 percent of parents saw academic progress in reading and 95 percent in math; and between 71 percent and 83 percent of the students who participated improved their academic performance overall.SupportersMiller said that it takes a strong network to make the SHINE program successful."It's all about the buy-in by the teachers, schools, policymakers and parents," she said, noting that not every afterschool program has such a close connection with the schools it serves. "Having those relationships are key."Over the past decade, LCCC has successfully built that strong network, which includes school districts, teachers, state legislators, county agencies, area businesses and parents to guarantee that the students have a wealth of opportunities to learn through hands-on projects.State Sen. John Yudichak recently said that the SHINE program is a model that should be followed."Quality afterschool programs keep our children safe, inspire them to learn and promote positive social development," he said in February. "The fight to ensure all children have access to these important programs like the SHINE program locally is a fight worth making for every legislator, every teacher and every parent who cares passionately about the health, welfare and educational development of our children."State Sen. David Argall and state Reps. Doyle Heffley and Jerry Knowles, as well as the late state Sen. James Rhoades have pushed for financial support to make the program possible.All of the area schools have stood behind the program as well."The SHINE afterschool program has literally been a beacon of hope for children in districts throughout Carbon and Schuylkill counties," Dr. Barbara Conway, superintendent of the Jim Thorpe Area School District said last year. "Designed to promote not only increased academic skills but also to foster independence, self-reliance and pride in our students who attend the program, SHINE has provided a safe, secure and nurturing environment for over 400 children throughout the two-county area, and we at Jim Thorpe are proud to be able to be a part of it."Rosemary Porembo, superintendent of the Panther Valley School District, has said that the SHINE program has helped the school district because it has provided students who are struggling with a way to find help and succeed in their education.Teachers have also commented that the SHINE program has made them better teachers, and evaluations prove that to be true.Miller said that SHINE helps teachers learn different techniques that they then take back into their school."They invest themselves," she said. "What's so remarkable about that is that it not only reflects in what we do here in the SHINE program, it also reflects back into the school classroom. Teachers become better teachers because SHINE pushes them beyond their natural boundaries."About SHINEThe SHINE afterschool program is a nonpartisan initiative that began in 2002 as the brainchild of the Partners for Progress Carbon County Child and Family Collaborative Board and run through Lehigh Carbon Community College.Its goal over the past decade has been to create a program that helps at-risk children learn through hands-on projects while building social skills and personal relationships and taking the skills back to the classroom.Six SHINE elementary centers serving more than 300 kindergarten through fifth-grade students throughout the two counties. The Carbon County SHINE Middle School Career Academy held at Carbon Career & Technical Institute in Jim Thorpe serves 150 children in the five Carbon school districts. The career academy teaches students about STEM careers of the future through six-week courses.Funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, the Luzerne and Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board and private funding, the program looks at bridging the gap between birth and kindergarten by utilizing other programs such as Right From the Start and home visitors, who help the children improve in their learning skills before they reach school age.SHINE has been successful, Miller said, because of the commitment by LCCC staff and interns; SHINE teachers; school principals and superintendents; state legislators; and most importantly, parents and students."In programs like this, you can never settle," Miller said. "You have to try and stay one step ahead of strategies to make the SHINE program better, and we have done that and will continue to do that as we move into the future."