The Striving To Attain Remarkable Teens (START) program celebrates its 10th anniversary this summer.
Inside a storefront on Grand Avenue in the West Grove, a beautiful mural greets visitors who walk through the door and enter the nonprofit START program. The painting features an outdoor aesthetic adorned with trees, butterflies, and sea creatures.
The mural is right on point for today’s program. Volunteer Sabrina Wilkinson is leading a student enrichment program focused on Brazilian-born artist Romero Britto. She chose Britto for his colorful, accessible style, and she’s hoping his art strikes a spark.
“First and foremost, it gives them a chance to relax. That’s the point of art, relaxing, and creating beauty in your life,” says Wilkinson, 57, a recent transplant from North Carolina. “We can all do art. Let their mind wander and see where it takes them.”
Striving To Attain Remarkable Teens (START) is a West Grove after-school program that provides experience-based learning opportunities for disadvantaged high school and middle school students.
The program mostly serves West Grove families, or families with a connection to the neighborhood. The organization, which is currently offering a six-week summer camp for 20 or more students, will celebrate its 10th anniversary on August 4.
START was co-founded in 2014 by Phyllis Bellinger, a veteran math teacher at Ponce de Leon Middle School who grew up in the West Grove and had an opportunity as a young student to participate in the University of Miami’s Upward Bound program.
The experience inspired her to do the work she does today as START’s executive director.
“We all grew up in Coconut Grove,” Bellinger says of herself and her team. “We have a special vested interest in helping other Coconut Grove youth. Most importantly, we want to give back to the community that poured into us.”
The program has mentored an estimated 300 students since inception, Bellinger says, with a 100% high school graduation rate that she attributes to the program’s “boutique” approach to individual students and learning.
“We are able to do that because we give students what they need,” says Bellinger, who has twice been named teacher of the year during her 35-year career – once in 2003 and again in 2016. “We are really interested in the whole child.”
That success led to the program to welcome younger students.
“Initially, we were serving children ages 11 to 19. We chose that particular age group because in our immediate community, there was a gap in the services able to assist students academically,” Bellinger told the Spotlight.
“The reason why we began taking younger children is because parents asked to please assist them because their older children who were doing the program were doing better academically than their younger siblings.”
For students, the START program provides access to technology and state-certified teachers who can help them navigate educational needs. START also offers cultural outings, to the Kampong, for instance, and Wynwood, as well as college tours.
With summer programs now in progress, START is also offering internship opportunities through Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ Summer Youth Internship Program.
One of this summer’s interns is Jayla Lambright, a student at Coral Gables Senior High. Lambright has participated in START since she was in middle school.
“I decided to do my internship because I was a camper here last year and it was a really fun experience, especially because every week we went on at least two field trips,’’ Lambright said. “Also, last year, through the START program, I went on a college tour and it was a great experience overall.”
The START program also taps volunteers like Wilkinson, who started doing art enrichment programs for her son’s third grade class almost two decades ago.
“It was really rewarding when I did it,” she said. “I felt like I learned just as much from the kids as they learned from me.”
For the program featuring Britto, Wilkinson had students paint a large sunburst and perform a word search (which she created) for terms related to the artist. When asked what students might gain from her program, Wilkinson turned the focus back on Britto, whose work is known for its bright colors and exuberance.
“I think that they’re probably going to learn that art can evoke a lot of different feelings,” she said. “And in looking at his work, it seems like he wants you to feel the happiness.”
