EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — The Stars program in Scranton is a growing resource for the Hispanic and Latino community.
This local program works with students in creating a pathway to college and a variety of other career paths.
The Stars program at Marywood University is now in its second year as a full-time program.
“Started officially in the fall of 2018 and it was a part-time program for the first three years. Last year it was the first time that the program was expanded to a full-time program,” said Jenny Gonzalez Monge the Stars program director.
Stars is a part of Marywood University and takes place at Elm Park Methodist Church on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
“So the Stars program is a mentoring program that targets Hispanic and Latino youth in the Scranton area it’s a program where we match 7th through 12th-grade high school students with college students and graduate students,” explained Monge.
We spoke with Jenny early in August as they were kicking off registration for the new school year.
“So star stands for students together achieving remarkable success,” added Monge.
These students can get one-on-one attention with a variety of topics depending on what they need.
“During the program what we do is we provide weekly academic support through academic enrichment activities or homework help and that may be you know studying for a test practicing a speech or writing an essay or just you know working on a math problem,” continued Monge.
They also get out of the building on occasion to learn about other hands-on trades and college opportunities.
“So it could go it could be anything from budgeting to the college application process to researching trade schools or the growing trade industries or northeastern Pennsylvania,” said Monge.
As for the future, they plan to expand further when they can add more staff and grow.
“There is a focus on this population because research indicates that across the nation it is the group with the lowest academic achievement rate so that is why there has been a focus and an emphasis on the Hispanic Latinx youth however it is open to anyone in the community and it is a free program,” says Monge.
