The SHINE Afterschool program is expanding into Luzerne County.

On Thursday, Congressman Lou Barletta, state Sen. John Yudichak, Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy and Luzerne Intermediate Unit 18 Executive Director Anthony Grieco joined educators, business leaders and students at State Street Elementary School in the Wyoming Valley West School District to announce the establishment of SHINE.The Luzerne County SHINE program is an expansion of the program currently in the Carbon and Schuylkill County school districts.Luzerne County SHINE will be phased in over a three-year period beginning in the fall. The program will reach 500 students in the first year; 800 students in the second year; and over 1,000 students in the third year of operation. The program, geared to grades K-8, focuses on a project-based STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) curriculum.In the first year, Luzerne County SHINE projects that start-up costs will be roughly $75,000; annual operating costs will range from $1 million to $1.7 million depending on the number of students involved in the program. The majority of funding for afterschool programming comes from a combination of federal, state and private funding sources."Luzerne County SHINE is the resource that can make a difference in outcomes of our schools and in the lives of our children," Yudichak said.Wilkes University will serve as the educational host for the program. The College of Education at Wilkes University will provide critical administrative as well as research support."I can testify that not only is it enormously successful in terms of the results that we get from students who participate in the SHINE program but just as importantly administratively the parents who participate in the program are also more involved in the school community," said Dr. Barbara Conway, retired superintendent of the Jim Thorpe Area School District.