For students like Zyair Kent, sometimes keeping up with learning can be difficult without the right resources.

“School, especially as a student-athlete, it can get pretty stressful at times managing your time, especially when you don’t know how to do it,” said Kent, a sophomore at Rochester Academy Charter High School.

According to the New York State Education Department, 82% of economically disadvantaged students graduated high school in 2022 with a 7% dropout rate, compared to a graduation rate of 92% for non-economically disadvantaged students whose dropout rate is only 3%.

“Graduation rate, dropout rate, there’s so many factors that come along with that,” said Kareem McCullough, coordinator for Rochester’s Area U Program.

This is why McCullough, who has prior experience in the New York state educational system, saw a need to focus on learning in all forms.

“We see how students are being treated, we see how their experiences in schools themselves and those experiences are causing them to say 'hey, I don’t have anyone here that cares for me, I can’t connect with this person, hey they don’t care about my future or my voice, what am I here for?'” McCullough said.

McCullough created the program Area U to give students a space for learning and experiences outside of the classroom, helping students like Kent with homework several times a week.

“There are many times where I just wanna go home and go to sleep, say 'forget the homework.' But you know, you have to stay on track of it. Being a student-athlete, you have to be a student first before you're an athlete,” said Kent. 

“What we know, and the pandemic showed this with online classes, it showed that a lot of kids don’t have those places and those spaces within their homes to actually do work and focus. So this eliminates that from being a factor,” said McCullough.

But it also gives them other learning experiences like art therapy sessions and cooking classes, using deeper learning experiences to motivate students.

“One thing I know as an educator is the more experiences you have, the richer your education is. The more information you have to put in an essay, the more information and the more connections you can make in those classes by having experiences,” McCullough said.

“There's only so much a city and school can do within a building, within that eight-hour time span. Here, you’re outside of school; you're getting help with different things that don’t just have to do with school,” said Kent.

And it's creating connections for students like Kent to look up to.

“Everyone here wants their education and that obviously, when you’re surrounded by good people, you’re gonna radiate good,” he said.