Highlight Your Program

Share Your Afterschool Story

Every program has something to share and we want to hear your Afterschool and Out-of-School Time (OST) stories! We want to hear how your Afterschool or Summer program is making a difference in the lives of students and their families. Submit an article, media clip, or your own story (brief narrative) about classes, events and personal stories of success. Submissions will be reviewed and posted in a timely fashion. Please answer the questions below via the google form below.

Check Out These Inspiring #AfterschoolNJ Stories

Parsons Pride Parsons Elementary School North Brunswick

May 26, 2025

The Parsons Pride After school Mentoring Program just finished up its 13th year. The goal of the program is to provide students with an opportunity to succeed by developing school relationships that will increase their social emotional well being, as well as provide an atmosphere that will help them develop positive relationships with themselves and school community members. Our after school group meets every Wednesday after school at Parsons Elementary School in North Brunswick NJ. During our sessions, we facilitate social emotional lessons, art projects, community service projects, garden projects and physical educational activities to name a few. We connect with community partners such as Rutgers University, 4 H Club, and the Community Food Bank of New Jersey to engage with our students on various projects. We love having our students interact with community groups and to give them invaluable experiences outside the classroom.

How has NJSACC helped you achieve this success?

The NJSACC has helped our program succeed in several different ways. We have attended the yearly conferences where we have networked with other after school professionals and community groups. We came away with valuable partnerships as well as activity ideas to then implement during our program sessions. Through the NJSACC we were able to access the National AfterSchool Alliance and the National Afterschool Association. We have taken advantage of the webinars, informational articles, activities and after school initiatives that they provide.

Laura Rubino

January 26, 2025

During the Pandemic, schools were closed and children were suffering with extremely high rates of anxiety and depression. Adolesecent suicide was at its all time high. I was able to help many children at this time, but one story particularly sticks out. I was working with a young girl, age of 12. She was overcome with anxiety and her behavior was regressing. She was no longer able to sleep alone at night as well as experienced panic attacks. After a few months in my Mindset Mentorship program, she was able to identify triggers and regulate her emotions before they became unmanageable. She felt empowered with her new knowledge and skills. Eventually, she went back to sleeping in her own bed at night and practiced Mindfulness to minimize her anxiety. There are many other similar success stories. During times of struggle, I remember these success stories which keeps me enthusiastic about helping our youth.

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Through NJSACC’s conferences and newsletters I am able to connect to schools in the area and be inspired by their after school programs.

Brandi Davis

January 20, 2025

Our program has 6 pillars: academics, social and emotional learning, civic engagement and leadership, mentoring, post-secondary readiness, and family engagement. We work with grades PK3-4th grade and recently did an MLK Service Day Showcase. We are honing in on civic engagement/leadership pillar and creating opportunities for our Dreamers to be more comfortable in this area through events.

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Being on NJSAAC’s mailing list helps me to participate in any professional development opportunities and stay in the know with out-of-school programming. I had the opportunity to participate in NJSAAC’s conference and made connections that enhanced my program.