After-School Arts Program Finds Success

When classes end for the day, many students hang out with friends or head home to relax and do homework, but many also stay at school to participate in a number of after-school programs. These programs include sports, music classes, tutoring, and various other activities that continue to provide students an education and structure after the school day is finished. These programs help build character for students and provide them with the resources needed to become well-rounded individuals.

One such program is the after-school drama program at the Bronx Preparatory Charter School in New York City. The program, Bronx Prep Performing Arts Academy, provides students with an opportunity to act, build sets, design costumes, improve their speaking skills, and work on other projects for the productions they put together and perform. The program allows around 75 5th to 12th graders the experience of putting on a stage production from scratch.

“Things just really opened up for me as a teacher
because so many of the kids were engaged,” said Kate
Quarfordt of when she first started teaching drama at the
school. The students enjoyed the program so much that
they asked to do more plays and musicals, and the program
expanded to its current form that includes stage shows and
a speech team. “It was that kind of energy the students
have and now things have really taken off.”
Since its inception, the program has produced plays
including Aladdin, the speech teams has competed in
several competitions, and they worked on, a production of
the musical Guys and Dolls. The students have input for
every aspect of the productions they work on, including set
design, casting roles, and making sure everything falls into
place. Some of the students maintain a blog dedicated to
the after-school program. If the students need help with a
project, Quarfordt will provide guidance, but she prefers to
have them students try to figure out the issue using their
own creative thinking skills.