On Thursday, Jan. 30, the first group of New Trier High School students traveled to A.J. Katzenmaier Academy, located in North Chicago’s District 187, to volunteer in the After School Enrichment Program. This partnership, in which New Trier students can support classroom learning activities, was made possible through collaboration with North Chicago Community Partners (NCCP).

Junior adviser Bethany Nichols has been a key player in organizing this program and communicating with NCCP. She accompanied students on Jan. 30, and more recently on Thursday, Feb. 20, but the process to set this up started long before.

When New Trier switched to the system of graduating class teams in 2023, where an adviser chair, assistant principal, and support staff liaisons follow each class rather than switching every year, a long-term service project for the class of 2026 became possible.

“Now that we’ve gone to this model, we wanted to create a service project that had some continuity,” Class of 2026 Adviser Chair Darrin Jeziorski said. “We were hoping to create a three-year partnership with an organization.”

Due to an emphasis on working with someone local, NCCP stood out as a strong candidate for partnership.

New Trier started working with NCCP in the third quarter of the 2023-2024 school year. At that time, adviseries put together meal kits for the Family Care Closet in District 187 to help combat food insecurity.

“[It] is a space where the community can come and shop for what they need,” Nichols said. “That was a wonderful partnership.”

Because of this, Nichols started to explore other opportunities to continue working with NCCP. She was specifically looking for any after school homework help, tutoring, or similar programs where New Trier students could serve as mentors.

In the spring of 2024, Nichols reached out to Brittany Costa, a senior manager at NCCP, who provided Nichols with more information about their After School Enrichment Program.

“North Chicago Community Partners was founded in 2008 with the belief that every child deserves access to a high-quality education,” Costa said. “That same year, NCCP’s signature After School Enrichment Program was piloted at Forrestal Elementary School.”

Costa explained that, since then, the program has expanded and they now serve about 300 students every day.

Before bringing New Trier students, Nichols and Jeziorski went on an initial visit to A.J. Katzenmaier Academy on Thursday, Jan. 16.

“We toured the facilities, we met kids, we met teachers, we learned a little bit more about the program,” Jeziorski said.

Following a successful visit, Nichols brought a group of students with her on the next trip to District 187. At these programs, New Trier students help out teachers and work with students on their activities—such as a science experiment on Jan. 30.

“It was a really rewarding experience because I got to build connections with the kids, and they were so appreciative of having us there,” Junior Veronica Gabriel said. “We were able to guide them through their work while also having fun and engaging with them. It was great to see how excited they were to learn and interact with us.”

Building these kinds of community relationships has long been a goal for NCCP and this program.

“NCCP and the After School Enrichment Program really focus on the caring neighbor aspect, [and] New Trier is a neighbor to North Chicago,” Nichols said. “Anyone who steps into District 187 knows that their students have just as much potential for success as other students. They just need a little extra support.”

That support is what the After School Enrichment Program aims to provide.

After School Enrichment programs take place from 3:30-5:15 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays. According to Jeziorski, the first half of this time typically focuses on literacy. He explained that promoting literacy has become a major focus for the partnership between New Trier and NCCP, and the students will receive personalized reading kits with books aligning to their interests and reading levels plus bookmarks and journals. The second half includes another engaging activity, with many options such as sports in the gym to art projects and more.

Nichols also noted that it was great for the students from A.J. Katzenmaier Academy who participated in the event, mostly fourth and fifth graders, to work with others closer to their own age, as volunteers are typically older.

“As high school volunteers, we served as younger mentors for them, which they weren’t used to,” Gabriel said.

As of now, Nichols has only brought small groups of students from her own advisery to volunteer.

“We explored [the program] as a possibility for all of our students to do, but logistically North Chicago Community Partners and North Chicago schools just couldn’t accommodate all 900 or 1,000 people that we would bring up there,” Jeziorski said.

Still, as this partnership grows, the program will likely expand and more adviseries will get to participate.

“We are planning to go back as a graduating class team, but we are also planning to extend this opportunity to advisers,” Jeziorski said. “This will be an opportunity that kids will learn about. Again, not the whole advisery group is going to be able to go, but if there’s some of the kids that are interested, we can try to make that happen.”

Anyone looking to get involved in other ways should visit the North Chicago Community Partners website to learn more about their cause, the programs they run, and volunteer opportunities.

In the future, New Trier will be open to being a source of support to NCCP should they need it.

“If they need more volunteers, then we’re happy to help a neighbor,” Nichols said.

This story was originally published on New Trier News on March 4, 2025.