(Photo: Saint Hubert High School)

For more than 20 years, Catholic Social Services (CSS) has served children and youth through its Out-of-School Time (OST) programs.

OST’s school-based community centers offer a variety of creative after-school activities in the late afternoon aimed at youth development and family support. Operating during the school year and throughout the summer, OST provides safe, challenging, and engaging learning experiences that help children develop social, emotional, physical and academic skills.

The afterschool initiative also provides programs that focus on science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education.

For the second year in a row, Northeast’s OST students traveled to Saint Hubert Catholic High School for Girls for a STEAM workshop series. The two-day event was hosted by the school’s Bambie Botz Robotics Team.

Northeast OST youth had the opportunity to learn more about robotics and participated in workshops designed by the Saint Hubert’s students themselves. The children built their own “bubble bots” before getting the chance to operate the “Bambie Bot”, a robot crafted by the club for competition in the 2023-2024 robotics competition season.

Kara Wisniewski, Northeast OST Director, and Jo Bradley, High School OST Director, enjoy collaborating on these programs.

“I absolutely love seeing what the Saint Hubert’s students come up with for hosting these events,” said Bradley. “I help with breaking it down to age-appropriate steps, but the team is tasked with all the components of the workshops. The robot party is always a fun day.”

The duo works together to identify different ways for the high school students to work with the younger neighborhood youth, aiming to build mentor connections and youth led events.

OST programs also strive to empower parents to advocate for their children. In addition to programs for children, families are welcomed to the Strengthening Families Program and the Nurturing Parenting Program which focuses on children ages 10-14 and children in grades K-5 respectively.

CSS OST Programs are devoted to building stronger communities throughout the City of Philadelphia. To learn more about CSS OST Programs, check out their website here.

(Photos: Saint Hubert High School)