5 new after-school programs for kids on Long Island
Eitan Olshansky, 8, of Commack, in an art class called Focus on Cartooning at One RIver School of Art and Design in Woodbury. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
With the start of a new school year comes a host of new after-school programs for children to explore, while at the same time giving their grown-ups a little time to themselves. Have the kids try out cartooning, become empowered as girls, or pick up a pickleball racket.
Here is a sampling of new extra-curriculars being offered on weekday afternoons across Long Island:
Digital Art Focus: Manga and Cartooning
Dylan Ponger, 9, of Manhasset, left, and Oliver Rice, 8, of Hicksville, right, in art class called Focus on Cartooning at One RIver School of Art and Design in Woodbury. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
For grades 6 to 12, this class focuses on Japanese manga and Western-style comics. Students use Photoshop to create serialized art featuring stories, characters and plot to realize their visions, says Cassandra Basile, school director. “It used to be this niche, but now everybody knows it,” Basile says of manga and animé. “Drawing in that style is really interesting and exciting for our students.” This class moves students from drawing with pencil or pen to digital creation.
Sisterhood Circles
Ten sessions geared to girls ages 9 to 12 focus on the goal of empowering girls to change the world, says Jordan Manfredi, founder and lead mentor for The Aishling Forest School, whose mission is preserving the magic of childhood. Aishling is Gaelic for dreams, Manfredi says. The outdoor program is 100% nature immersed in the center’s woods and covers topics such as self-expression and self-care, community building, assertiveness and finding your voice. Eight sessions are drop off for the girls, and the two other sessions are for caregivers, one for the student’s chosen female caregiver and one for a male caregiver.
Pickleball Plus Juniors
The Junior Development Program at the indoor Pickleball Plus facility features after-school and early evening classes for ages 3 to 17. Dinkers are ages 3 to 6, Future Aces are 6 to 9, Aces are 10 to 12 and Dynamic Training is for ages 13 to 17. Players will learn strokes, match play and, in more advanced classes, footwork and strategy. “Pickleball in general is a new sport — it’s the fastest growing sport in America,” says Dory Levinger, director of the junior development program. “It’s starting to skew younger.”
Book The Gig: Advanced Musical Theater Technique
This 12-session class is for grades 7 through 12. “Students come in and do mock auditions every class,” says Michael Baker, director of education. Each week, they will find out what they are auditioning for during the following week’s class and will have to prepare their material. It might be for a college production, a community theater performance of “Godspell” or a Broadway production of “Dear Evan Hansen,” Baker says. Their auditions will be coached and judged by Cullen Pitmas, a professional actor, Baker says. The class should help students “develop techniques so they can feel confident finding audition material for any said project,” Baker says.
Retro Video Game Club
This ongoing club is geared to students K through 12 who may have autism, ADHD, anxiety, and other special needs. “It can be hard for them to make friends in a traditional setting,” says Christina Lanzillotto, director of admissions and advancement at The Whole Child Academy. Because the kids already love video games, they may enjoy learning about and playing on older consoles such as Nintendo 64 and Atari, she says. Enrollees do not have to be students at the academy, Lanzillotto says.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
