/community/youth-programs/stars/index false
/community/youth-programs/stars/index
S.T.A.R.S. Program

About the S.T.A.R.S. Program

Stars-logo.pngS.T.A.R.S. Program (Students Together Achieving Remarkable Success)

MISSION

The S.T.A.R.S. (Students Together Achieving Remarkable Success) program offers youth of all backgrounds in 5th-12th grades, and, more recently, 3rd-4th grades, the opportunity to explore their long-term career goals through one-on-one academic assistance and exposure to a variety of post-secondary educational paths, trades, and careers.

VISION

S.T.A.R.S. seeks to create a middle school to college and career pipeline for underserved and underrepresented youth through continuous collaboration with their families, school districts, local universities, community organizations, churches, and Marywood University's diverse offices. The goal is to provide a safe haven to facilitate information, resources, skills, awareness, and empowerment to the youth and their families on how to prepare and succeed in reaching their long-term academic/career goals. By becoming a part of the S.T.A.R.S. program, the youth and their families will engage in community and group-based mentoring activities and experiences that will build individual relationships and a sense of belonging in the community.

S.T.A.R.S. In the Media:

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH: Marywood’s Stars mentoring program
PA Homepage | Aired: 10/06/23

Marywood offers mentoring workshop for students
WBRE/WYOU | Aired: 01/02/23

Beacons of Hope: This episode takes a look at two area organizations, The STARS Program at Marywood University and the Hazleton Integration Project. Two organizations, one goal: serving the underserved.


WVIA Keystone Edition | Aired: 12/05/22
Marywood's Stars mentoring program | 28/22 News

While the STARS Program’s focus is on diverse youth, the program is open to all students in grades 3rd through 12 regardless of race, color, and national and ethnic origin.

Marywood University admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Creating Opportunities

Marywood University, founded in 1915 by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, prepares students to have a positive impact on society at regional and global levels while providing each student with the foundation for success in an interdependent world. Marywood University’s mission “roots itself in the Catholic intellectual tradition, the principle of justice, and the belief that education empowers people.”

Hence, Students Together Achieving Remarkable Success (S.T.A.R.S.) is an after school mentoring program that has been developed to provide academic and social support to youth of all backgrounds and their families in Scranton, PA, and its surrounding areas.

The program uses a community approach to empower the youth and their families to develop skills and increase their self-efficacy in advocating and preparing for their future. Furthermore, the S.T.A.R.S. program, in collaboration with Educational Opportunities Centers, EOC., offers monthly college application workshops in the Fall semester for local high school seniors.

Through proactive, university-wide, and community partnerships, S.T.A.R.S. seeks to serve as a bridge between students and community and a number of educational opportunities, to ensure that youth in NEPA learn about various career paths through early preparation and academic and social mentoring. This enables them to make educated and informed decisions on pursuing workforce opportunities in the trades, military, manufacturing, etc., and/or to pursue and succeed in higher education. The S.T.A.R.S program also offers an annual Wellness Fair, in collaboration with Scranton School District, multiple community organizations and Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, which is open to the community.

In the summer of 2018, Marywood University was awarded a grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation to fund the initiation and first year of the S.T.A.R.S. program. In collaboration with the Scranton School District, St. John Neumann’s Parish (church closed in June 2025), community organizations, and Robert Spitz Foundation, the program took place in the school of St. John Neumann Parish. The space, donated by the church, was chosen based on the results of the survey in which parents indicated that a site in Scranton’s South Side would offer easy accessibility and greatly increase the frequency of their children’s participation.

Furthermore, in the spring of 2022, the McGowan Charitable fund awarded a $60,000 grant to Marywood University to expand the S.T.A.R.S. program. This grant will allow for more youth and families to be served on a weekly basis, with homework help and mentoring, and has since enabled continuous new community partnerships to provide as many wrap-around services as needed by the community.

The program expanded to three days a week instead of two in the fall of 2024, since it will split the middle school students and high school students to meet separately on Tuesdays and Wednesday evenings from 4-5:30 p.m. and 3rd-4th graders on Thursday evenings from 3-4:30 p.m. at Elm Park Methodist Church in downtown Scranton, PA. Likewise, the expansion allows for more on-site educational experiences, extensive wrap-around services, and an expanded summer camp. The Curriculum is a combination of career exploration, civic engagement, life skills enhancement, and service-learning.

Overall, the S.T.A.R.S program has developed into a comprehensive, holistic program that provides case management services, resources, and serves as a primary referral source for youth and their families. The program collaborates with on and off campus community partners across Northeastern Pennsylvania, including those in the education, arts, healthcare, social services and legal sectors. Using a two-generation approach, the S.T.A.R.S program is committed to offering academic enrichment opportunities and community resources so each family in our program obtains the tools they need to successfully advocate for themselves, two generations (children and parents) at a time.

While the STARS Program’s focus is on diverse youth, the program is open to all students in grades 7 through 12 regardless of race, color, and national and ethnic origin.

Marywood University admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Academic Activities 

Art

  • 5 Ideas to Stay Creative offers different art activities inspired by the Ghetty’s art collection.
  • 92nd Street Y moved all their classes and children’s activities online, where you can find fun art projects.
  • JourneyMaker is a free tool on the Art Institute of Chicago’s website that allows you to make your own art and create a personalized tour of the museum.
  • Kinder Art provides access to different challenging art activities

STEM

Educational Resources

  • 25 Activities for Reading and Writing includes tips and tricks on how to read to your child.
  • 3P Learning gives you access to worksheets and activities covering math, spelling, literacy, science, and e-safety.
  • ABCya offers fun interactive word and math games for kids of all ages.
  • AoPS Alcumus gives you free access to worksheets and activities in pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and more.
  • BrainPop has videos and exercises for all middle school subjects
  • Calico Spanish helps young children learn Spanish.
  • Epic is a digital library that gives you access to over 40,000 books for children under 12. There are audiobooks as well as books that can be read on-screen. The first 30 days are free.
  • GeoGebra is a free math app that gives you access to tutorials, activities, and other resources. All math subjects are included.
  • History for Kids is a free online network of all things history and offers lessons, worksheets, and quizzes.
  • Sign up for Khan Academy

Career Exploration 

Career Aptitude Tests 

  • 123Test Can help you gain insight into the careers that best fit your personality. It will help you learn what kind of work environments and occupations suit you best. 
  • Color Quiz Can help you gain insight into the careers that best fit your personality. It will help you learn what kind of work environments and occupations suit you best. 
  • Human Metrics Using both Jung’s Typology and Myers-Briggs insights (see below), Human Metrics takes you through 64 questions to rate you on both scales. The results explain to you how each piece relates to your personality type. 
  • Sokanu Is a free platform for users to assess their interests, personality types, abilities, career values, and preferred work and social environments in order to find matches that will lead to satisfying careers. Sokanu suggests careers after users respond to a series of questions. There's detailed information available on each of the suggested career options. In addition, users can browse occupations by clusters like health and nutrition, law, arts and entertainment, animals, food and drink, politics and law, sports, travel, music, engineering, and science. 

Post-Secondary/College Education Exploration 

College Scholarships 

Youth Scholarships

The S.T.A.R.S. program is committed to working with community partners (local universities and community organizations) to provide updated community resources, information, and opportunities for youth and families of all backgrounds in NEPA. Community events such as legal clinics and health fair screening clinics, in partnership with various community partners, were coordinated for the broader immigrant community to ensure access to accurate information and resources.

In the summer of 2025, the S.T.A.R.S. program held two week-long day camps for middle and high school youth. The high school summer camp hosted Barrio Alegria, a NASA engineer, and WVIA to help the youth explore Community Solidarity and Civic Engagement themes while learning about diverse career paths in STEAM, Arts and Media.

While the STARS Program’s focus is on diverse youth, the program is open to all students in grades 7 through 12 regardless of race, color, and national and ethnic origin.

Marywood University admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Get Involved

The S.T.A.R.S. program has been a success due to local University students who have committed their time to mentor and empower youth. Mentoring will take place every Tuesday and Wednesday at Elm Park Methodist Church from 4-5:30 p.m. We will be following Marywood University’s schedule for dates of programming. Whenever Marywood University is closed due to holidays or weather, the S.T.A.R.S. program will also be closed.


If your schedule only allows for you to participate one day a week, that is okay. We only ask that you come on the same day each week, because you will be paired with the same youth throughout the academic semester and/or year in order to develop a trusting relationship and build rapport with the youth. If you, a student mentor volunteer, would like to be part of this wonderful opportunity, please email or call S.T.A.R.S. Program Director, Jenny Gonzalez Monge, at jkgonzalezmonge@marywood.edu or 570-348-6253 for more information. The college student mentor will complete an application and participate in a S.T.A.R.S. mentor orientation before starting the program. Lastly, before any student can volunteer, they must obtain clearances. S.T.A.R.S mentor application Google form link can be found at: https://forms.gle/CiFJR1abXybWJJwA9 

Information about obtaining clearances can be found at the links below:

While the STARS Program’s focus is on diverse youth, the program is open to all students in grades 7 through 12 regardless of race, color, and national and ethnic origin.

Marywood University admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Contact

LINE emailLister: jkgonzalezmonge@marywood.edu

Jenny Karina GonzalezMonge

Bio of Jenny Karina GonzalezMonge
1