Skating, life lessons for Harlem girls.

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Author: Fitch, Elizabeth1

Ice skates covered Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH) Executive Director Sharon Cohen's office on a recent Thursday evening. Black, purple, pink and blue skate bags lined five wall-to-wall shelves behind Cohen's desk, and the overflow spilled into a neat pile on the floor. Despite the heaps lying around the room, Cohen let out a sigh of faux-exasperation as she directed an intern to pull down yet another pair of skates. "I've got 200 pairs of skates," she said. "Two hundred pairs of skates and 50 kids with a size five and a half."

Cohen and her small army of academic counselors, ice-skating instructors and interns will fit 74 girls before the eighth season of FSH begins later this month. Started by Cohen in 1997, FSH teaches both ice skating and life skills to young women ages 6 to 16 from the Harlem area, some of whom have never been on the ice and some who have skated with her for years. From October to April, participants gather twice a week for ice-skating lessons, educational tutoring and special programming. While many of the young participants come for the chance to twirl on the ice, they leave with much more.

According to FSH's mission statement, "FSH provides girls who live in the Harlem community with an innovative ice skating and educational program designed to build a positive self-image, teamwork, leadership and academic achievement."

FSH emphasizes their dedication by starting each session with a mandatory study/tutoring hour supervised by trained counselors, as well as a theory session where girls learn academic subjects such as nutrition and physics through ice skating. FSH also maintains a social worker on staff for group and individual counseling sessions. Participants must maintain a B average, and Cohen proudly points out that 16% of last year's participants earned straight A's. Undoubtedly, though, the most exciting thing for the girls is the chance to learn a sport generally not available to inner-city children.

"The purpose is to expose girls to a discipline they wouldn't normally have access to," said Cohen.

However, as with most after school programs, FSH serves a larger purpose. According to data from the Department of Education in 2000, more than 8 million children are left alone and unsupervised after school, which is the time children are most likely to either commit crimes or be the victims of crimes. A study entitled "Critical Hours: After School Programs and Education Success" released by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation in 2003 that compiled data from studies of after-school programs across the country, found that students in grades six through twelve who participate in structured group programs have higher grades and test scores than those who do not. Another study of 10th-graders found that students with extracurricular activities were six times less likely to drop out of school and two times less likely to be arrested by senior year.

FSH makes good on its promise to keep the girls busy. In addition to the training and studying sessions, they also go on field trips, like the small group of young women who visited board member Tamara Tunie on set at "As the World Turns" and participate in skating shows. One of the biggest events is the Winter Skating Party hosted by the FSH Parent Association, which raised $20,000 in ticket sales last year. The season closes each April with an Ice Show where the girls perform for parents, friends and donors.

As Cohen ushered out one girl bearing size five-and-a-half skates, a returning student tackled Cohen in a bear hug. As FSH employees and interns milled around, complimenting the girl on her animal-print tights and purple sneakers, chatting with her mother and pulling skates off the shelves, Cohen smiled as she discarded skates piled up on the floor next to the girl. "Sometimes it's one try, sometimes it's eight tries," she said. Luckily, this little girl was able to walk out with the right size.

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE)

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE)

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE)

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By Elizabeth Fitch