$5.5 million grant funds Mercyhurst University's after-school programs for county students

Elementary school students in the Northwestern School District will raise trout this coming school year, while those attending the Robert Benjamin Wiley Community Charter School in Erie will learn about different careers, thanks to a $5.5 million federal grant awarded to Mercyhurst University.

The Erie university received the funding for its after-school community learning centers: the Mercyhurst Early Learning Innovation Academy and new Compass Academy.

"This grant enables us to expand the MELIA program at (Northwestern Elementary and Springfield Elementary schools) from kindergarten through second grade to K through fifth grade," said Kortnie Fisher, MELIA's principal investigator. "It also allows us to start Compass Academy at the Wiley Charter School."

Funding for the two programs, which comes from the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers federal grant program, is split almost evenly between MELIA and Compass Academy.

Erie schools are going 'in a different direction'

Compass Academy replaces Mercyhurst's Carpe Diem Academy, which provided support for Erie School District students in grades kindergarten through second from 2012 until early 2024.

"We communicated with district officials and they indicated that they wanted to go in a different direction regarding the needs of their students," Fisher said.

The Compass Academy program will be offered to all Wiley Charter School students. The school runs from kindergarten through eighth grade.

It will provide academic support, but also other types of support to help the students meet state and local academic standards.

"There will be an emphasis on career exploration and social-emotional learning," Fisher said.

Programs includes S.T.E.M., arts and movement

The MELIA program has provided after-school activities in a variety of areas at the two Northwestern elementary schools, including arts, movement and S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering and math), since 2019. It also established the Rising K preschools programs at the schools.

And plans for this school year include raising trout.

"The Mercyhurst Education Department has always understood the need to meet students and families in spaces where they live, in their schools, and in their communities," said Phil Belfiore, chair of Mercyhurst's department of education.

Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com . Follow him on X @ETNBruce .

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: $5.5 million grant funds Mercyhurst University's after-school programs for county students