Empower 200 Girls in NYC with Education and Sport

Celebrating our 25th Anniversary in 2022, we were thrilled to welcome students back to our in person ICE: I can Excel Afterschool Program in   October, 2021.  During the 2021-22 academic year, our girls have been hard at work in their classes and workshops at our Academic Center and are very active on the ice. Below is a list of accomplishments a so far this year.

• A total of 166 students are enrolled in our I Can Excel (ICE) School-Year program and Winter Dreams.
• Completed our annual Career Week, including 3 in-person company visits and a hybrid (in-person and virtual) FSH Alumnae Networking event; A total of 31 girls grades participated in the Career Week activities.
• 100% of FSH seniors have been accepted into 24 colleges for 2022 enrollment with a total of $300,000+ in scholarships so far.
• 100% of our girls are actively engaged in skating this season.
• Our girls have participated in 3 skating exhibitions since the start of the school year, including the centennial celebration of the iconic brand Chanel No. 5 at Rockefeller Center, the Wollman Rink Re-opening Gala, and a performance for Alicia Keys debut song “Old Memories” at Rockefeller Center.
• Performed our 25^th Anniversary Ice Show “City of Dreams: A Skating Love Letter to New York City” in person for an audience of roughly # at Riverbank. (This was our first annual ice show since 2019.)
• Our synchronized skating teams won 2 bronze medals at the Empire State Games in Lake Placid in February.
• FSH was one of 5 winners in the world to receive the 2021 International Olympic Committee’s Women in Sport Award for the Americas for advancing gender equality and inclusion in sport.

Below is an introduction to one of our skaters, a high school senior, that exemplifies the kind of impact FSH has on our girls, including the cultivation of a supportive sisterhood and the development of invaluable qualities and life skills such as physical and mental discipline, a hard work ethic, critical thinking, leadership, effective communication, confidence, a healthy lifestyle, teamwork, and goal setting.

“My name is Raven, and I have been a member of Figure Skating in Harlem for eight years. Growing up, Figure Skating in Harlem definitely helped me step out of my comfort zone. I was always a very shy and timid girl growing up. I never really spoke up or drew attention to myself. However, after one year in Figure Skating in Harlem, I delivered my first speech to two hundred people at ten years old. From that moment, I continued to push beyond my comfort zone, improve my public speaking skills, and gain more self-confidence. I gained a new community that I will forever call my second home. As I begin to complete my final season with Figure Skating in Harlem, I begin to reflect on everything I have accomplished. From pushing past my fears of public speaking to making team captain of my pre-juvenile synchronized skating team, and getting accepted to various colleges with scholarships. I realized Figure Skating in Harlem was the catalyst to help the resilient, confident, and intelligent young woman I am today break free from the timid girl I was in the past.” 

Links:

• Trip to Lake Placid for Synchronized Skating Competition
• Career Week
• Ice Show Sizzle Reel