Lighting the Fire

As the Irish poet William Butler Yeats observed, "The purpose of education is not to fill a bucket but to light a fire."

Our academic enrichment programs are designed to:

• Ignite the innate curiosity of students in grades 5-8.
• Create motivated learners who take responsibility for their own education.
• Improve school enrichment.
• Uncover hidden talents and interests.
• Involve families in the ongoing education of their children.
• Foster character development and good conduct.
• Broaden students' horizons by relating to the worl around them.

Learning that Mirrors Life

Project-based exploratory learning gives students the opportunity to learn both subject matter and skills in an entirely different manner than the traditional classroom. Working in small teams, students explore their world in a very concrete way. Here's a quick look at what you'll find students doing at the Paraclete Center:

• Building robots for a completion under the guidance of a Tufts engineer.
• Creating a tourist guide for South Boston and our global partner, Rwanda.
• Dissecting animal organs with medical students from Tufts.
• Raising plants from seed in our hydroponics garden and planting in a community garden.
• Preparing meals or designing menus with professional chefs.
• Writing, taking photographs, editing and laying-out our own quarterly magazine.
• Designing a web page for a Rwandan province.
• Working on creative writing projects with a professional scriptwriter from a CBS television sitcom.
• Building a 15-foot boat.
• Producing a sports newscast with broadcast quality video and editing equipment.

Creative Writing Club

Engineering Club

Cooking Club

Rwanda Club

Video Production

Bio-Medical Club

Strategies

Urban Botany

Boat Builders