Project GOAL receives assist
Bryant students helping progam that provides education, soccer for area kids
PROVIDENCE – Bryant University sophomore Eric Guzman admitted being a bit nervous back in early February when, as part of his Management Principles 200 course, professor Eileen Kwesiga informed her class she wanted them to track down a non-profit organization and help it in any way possible.
She asked the students to divide themselves into small groups, contact their choice and explain their objectives to provide aid. After all, a key portion of their grade in the course would hinge on the organization’s satisfaction with the final product.
“We only had a week to 10 days to track down an organization we could partner up with, and that wasn’t much time,” stated Guzman, who hails from Miami, Fla. “She called it a service learning project. Because a couple of guys I teamed up with were members of the varsity soccer team, we felt (a non-profit) involved in sports would be the way to go.”
The other students in his group includes sophomores Brendan Robinson of Medway, Mass.; Justin Marsh of Farmington, Conn.; Wyatt Bridgham of Scarborough, Maine; and Charles Booth of Concord, Mass.; and tall, lanky junior Patrick Long of Everett, Mass. (also one of the Bulldogs’ quarterbacks).
“We all e-mailed a ton of organizations whom we felt we could help, and some of them got back to us, some didn’t,” Guzman recalled. “Darius Shirzadi (the executive director of Central Fallsbased Project GOAL) emailed us right away, and when Brendan told us he found one, we were all breathing easier.
“It was perfect, because – with Project GOAL – we were able to nail down not only an academic aspect but also one involved with athletics.”
Truth be told, when Shirzadi received the correspondence from the young men, he wasn’t surprised.
“It was perfect, because – with Project GOAL – we were able to nail down not only an academic aspect but also one involved with athletics.” – Bryant sophomore Eric Guzman
“This happens every so often,” he grinned as he recently walked through hallways at Moses Brown School’s Ross House, site of Project GOAL’s springtime sessions. “We’ve had students in the past ask us if they could do research papers, film documentaries, etc. with hope to help us with fundraising, or anything else we needed.
“I wrote them back, ‘Let’s meet and discuss our needs for the program,’ and we did,” he added. “They listened to us, and we gave them a laundry list of how they could help. They then came back with two things they felt were achievable objectives prior to the end of their school year.
“They chose public relations, and also said they could redesign our website to attract more young student interest in the program. It was a natural, a win-win situation.”
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Those unfamiliar with exactly what Project GOAL tries to accomplish, and much more than not succeeds, would make anyone applaud – or, perhaps, weep.
Shirzadi, Javier Centeno and Peter Whealton (currently the Chief Executive Officer of CORE Business Technologies in East Providence) co-founded it 13 years ago with a desire to ensure that inner-city children (mostly those in fifth through 11th grades) have a place to go after school – and thrive.
The best part? Parents or guardians don’t have to pay a dime.
“We cater to kids in school districts that, the way I phrase it, don’t always have access to after-school programs,” Shirzadi noted of the mainstay target areas – Pawtucket, Central Falls and Providence. “We try to eliminate the barriers for why kids wouldn’t participate. We provide transportation as needed, and also snacks, soccer equipment and the like.”
The program, which keeps any possible trouble at a distance, currently enlists approximately 80 students, all of whom must abide by the program’s rules or pay the price. The format is simple: Twice a week, between 3:30-6:30 p.m., the children spend the first 90 minutes doing homework or receiving tutoring from seven paid teachers (and/or state-accredited, bilingual instructors).
If that work is completed satisfactorily, they then earn the opportunity to learn more about soccer on the Ross House’s adjacent Mann Field from well-versed coaches.
Some also are paid, while there usually are several volunteers to provide additional mentoring in fundamentals.
“One of our guys, from Wheeler School, just retired, Robert Brown, and the kids loved him,” Shirzadi mentioned. “They called him ‘Otter,’ and I’m still not sure why.
“Our main mission is to work with kids who often are under-served, more so than other areas,” he continued. “Middle school is our main focus group, but we have kids in high school, too. It’s all about getting them more focused on education, and we do that by academic tutoring, but also teach them social and life skills – being responsible, accountable for your actions – and we use soccer as the hook to keep them disciplined.”
Shirzadi claimed the end goal is to get them to want to study, eventually graduate from high school, then move on to college.
“As a side result, over these 13 years, we’ve had 55 children who have been able to get into area private schools (including the likes of Moses Brown, Providence Country Day, Wheeler, Rocky Hill, St. Raphael, Hendricken, La Salle and others),” he stated. “We’ve also had 96 percent of the kids who completed our program graduate and attend college.
“And over 90 percent of them were the first ones in their families to attend college. Even I can’t believe this, but we’ve had over 1,100 kids come through us. Incredible.”
Overseeing the academic side of Project GOAL is Director of Administration Opal Alves, who’s been in that position for several years.
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The fact that Project GOAL provides all of it for free most impressed the Bryant studentathletes.
“Some of the small groups in our management class chose to fund raise for other non-profits, but – the fact Brendan and Charlie are on our soccer team, and I play club soccer with Wyatt – we wanted one that aligned with our interests,” Marsh said. “Man, did we find a winner.”
Offered Robinson: “I made the initial contact, and Darius got right back to me, which set them apart. We had e-mailed a bunch of non-profits to be safe, but this was our No. 1 (because) we loved what it stood for.”
The enthusiastic Marsh interrupted, “We had another task as part of the assignment, and it was to try to publicize all the good things Project GOAL does for kids. We greatly value all the good things it accomplishes.”
Bridgham noted, as part of the group’s assignment, they must attend “check-in” meetings with their instructor to inform her of how they’ve ironed out the details, and their expectations as to how the project will conclude.
That will occur with a final paper they must write, not to mention a visual presentation on the success of their quests.
Right now, the college kids are emphasizing the organization of Project GOAL’s sixth annual “Adidas Gold Cup Seven-on-Seven Corporate Soccer Tournament,” slated for this coming Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at Moses Brown.
According to Guzman, 2025 teams of 12 players are expected to play, which should mean more income for Shirzadi and Co. to fund its program.
“We’ll be graded on the marketing aspect of it, how well we do on getting the word out, and also the website,” Bridgham said. “That’s coming along pretty well. We’re trying to make it more up-todate and more user-friendly, as well as more pleasing to the eye.
“Since a lot of these kids speak Spanish or other languages, we’re trying to incorporate them into the site,” he added. “We want to provide them more information in more languages. It’s a tall order, but we dream big.”
Robinson laughed at that comment, but then piped up, “One of the next things on our agenda besides the website is to go out and scrimmage with the kids, teach them more about the game. We’re also taking part in the Corporate ‘Seven-on-Seven.’”
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Woodlawn Catholic Regional School seventh-grader Amber Soto, for one, can’t wait, but first opted to explain how she got involved.
“My cousin, Oscar, has been coming here for a long time, and he recommended Project GOAL to my mom,” she said. “I’m at Woodlawn now because I was failing some classes last year; I wasn’t paying attention, and I was getting distracted too much. My mom told me I needed to behave.
“She told me she was going to transfer me to Woodlawn last September because my grades were low, and I started coming to Project GOAL. I had to bring all my homework because I’d get ‘redirected’ if I didn’t. That means I would have to stay inside and study instead of coming outside and playing soccer.
“Now I’m doing great. I never forget my homework,” she added. “It’s helped me improve the path I’m on, and my spelling, grammar and writing. This makes me feel blessed I’m in this program. Now, every Tuesday and Friday, I can go home and show my parents I did all my work. I make them proud.
“I didn’t know about these guys (the Bryant half-dozen) before, but I’d love it if they would play with us, show us how to get better. If they play in college, they know what they’re doing.”
Shirzadi stated his nonprofit’s annual budget is about $160,000, and that his staff raised about $50,000 at a cocktail event held March 30. He, and the collegians, are hoping to raise a solid amount to help keep Project GOAL free for the children for at least a portion of the next fiscal year.
“With the website they’re redesigning, that should help a lot,” Shirzadi said. “They’re also looking for some college kids who are more versed in the languages to be tutors. We’d also like more of a female presence here as well.
“They’re using their influence with fellow college kids to help us, too, and contacting organizations to interact more with us. Like I said, it’s a winwin situation for us all.”
For more information on Project GOAL, call Shirzadi at (401) 258-2300, or e-mail him at info@projectgoal.org.