High school sophomore starts self-esteem program at elementary school

Using sports figures as examples, he teaches kids methods to overcome their problems, By Aryan Falahatpisheh SPARTA — Eric Smuda, a sophomore at Sparta High School, has started a new volunteer program called How To Find Yourself through Pass It Along and in partnership with the YMCA. The program takes place every Monday at Franklin Elementary School. It is similar to an aftercare program in the way that the children receive homework help from volunteers and then go on to play games. Its main aim, however, is to teach young children, all from kindergarten to fifth grade, life skills and sports skills. “It’s meant to educate children on the values of sports instead of being just another gym class, to actually teach them teamwork and to teach them that everything is possible by giving examples of people who were in their situation or had a rough childhood that rose to do what they wanted to achieve,” said Smuda. Smuda and the other volunteers teach the children a sport and then show them examples of famous athletes from that sport and how they overcame their often disadvantaged childhoods to be as successful as they are now. They not only teach the skills of a sport, but also the importance of teamwork. Smuda first gave a presentation on basketball player LeBron James, who was born and raised by a single mother who had him when she was just 16. Another presentation was about soccer player Clint Dempsey, who grew up for most of his early life poor and in a trailer park. Smuda gave the next presentation on football player Michael Oher, who was one of 12 children with an alcoholic and crack-cocaine addicted mom and a father who was frequently in prison. At age seven he was put into a foster home. His life story of overcoming the severe hardships in his life was not only a subject of Smuda’s presentation, but was also made into the movie “The Blind Side.” Smuda brought his idea to fruition with the aid of Pass It Along’s Service Corps program, which gives an opportunity to young women and men such as Smuda to refine their ideas for a service program and to implement it and make it a reality. Smuda’s main vision, the sports aspect of his program, was added on to a preexisting afterschool program by the YMCA and Pass It Along, the CATCH Program, that had been discontinued. “We were able to incorporate his vision into this program, and we were really excited to be able to support him and to be able to get this program back on the calendar,” said Kelly Bonventre, program director at Pass It Along. Smuda first had the idea for his program while volunteering for another Pass It Along program, Tilly’s Kids, which is made to help inner-city children. Smuda was inspired by one of the children he was working with, who loved basketball. “That was his passion, but because of gangs he couldn’t play; he had to stay home. I felt that no kid should have to deal with that, so I wanted to give as many kids that opportunity,” said Smuda. With steady success so far, Smuda has invited former Harlem Globetrotter Derek “The Whizz” Murphy, who will be coming in to give a presentation at a June program meeting.