Unlike Other Schools
Sharing a common entrance at 10101 Jefferson Blvd. with its philosophical partner, the Star Eco Station, an environmental science museum and exotic wildlife rescue facility, Star Prep students are greeted every day with the unmistakable sounds of the jungle world. The 44-student school occupies a little less than half of the one-story building’s ample space. But the bamboo hangings on many walls and the general raintree forest décor never allow them to forget who their co-tenants are.
Seeing a Need
Twenty years ago, the founder of the school, Katya Bozzi, and her late husband Erick Bozzi Sr., a lawyer in his native Colombia, became alarmed by a social problem that was drawing a lot of attention and few solutions. “Latchkey children” had become the trendy phrase of the year. To counter this apparent phenomenon, few after-school programs were available to occupy the straying children until their parents came home. The Bozzis spotted the need and, according to the school’s history, they stepped in.
Name Is Not Random
The “Star” portion of the academy’s name was not chosen because it tested as marketable. Star actually is an acronym that helps to explain the beginnings of Star Education, the corporate parent of a statewide supplemental education plan, a network that includes the Star Eco Station and the Star Prep Academy. “Star,” often capitalized, stands for “Science Theater Art Recreation,” the pillars of the umbrella after-school program the Bozzis — young, idealistic and energetic — introduced back in 1986. This is the back-story, as related in the school’s brochure.
“Star Education began its work in the political and economic environment of the 1980s, when latchkey children and greatly diminished resources for California public schools emerged as two major challenges to child welfare. In 1986, Katya and Erick Bozzi Sr. activated parents, professionals and the 10th District PTA in their West L.A. community to address the critical need for safe, high quality after-school opportunities for children. Together they mobilized alternative and innovative resources to enhance youth education and development, bolster the struggling public school in their community, and provide a safe and supportive environment for children after school.
“Since 1986, Star Education has provided supplemental education services, such as assemblies, science curricula and teachers, math and reading tutorial services, art curricula, teacher in-services and special events for elementary schools throughout California. Star also provides much-needed services for families such as extended school-day programs, enrichment classes and parenting programs.”
Far from a casual, back-of-the-covered-wagon enterprise, Star Education supplies programming for 48 school districts throughout California, covering 1 1/2 million children. From Washington to the Los Angeles City Council, Star has been honored.
Illness Strikes
A decade after launching what looked like a starry-eyed odyssey to the ambitious, world-changing Bozzis, tragedy intervened.
In 1995, when Mr. Bozzi was 44 years old, he was struck down, at the epitome of his creativity, by Lou Gehrig’s disease. He fought for 2 years, losing his mobility and his ability to speak along the way. He died in the late summer of 1997, triggering a large outpouring of grief.
The Dream Grows
Around the turn of the century, Mrs. Bozzi’s son Erick Jr., and her daughter Katiana, were entering young adulthood. Her Star Education program was blossoming just as the idealistic young couple once hoped it would. Since the Bozzi idea was working so well elsewhere, the thinking went, why not trade on her experience and organize her own school in her own hometown? The plan evolved. It did not explode. And today, all three Bozzis fully participate in a genuine family venture.
Second Time Around
About 15 years ago, when the Star Education grand plan was still in its embryonic stages, Tim Benson, a student at Westchester High School, was hired for one of the Bozzis’ after-school programs. He not only liked what he saw, “I found my love for education when I was doing the Star after-school program,” he said. The Bozzis did, too, and Mrs. Bozzi did not forget the enthusiasm he brought to her program.
Standing in the main corridor of Star Prep one morning last week, Mr. Benson was the portrait of happiness. Armed with a ready smile, he was attired in a dress shirt and necktie, a clothing tradition that cannot be presumed these days.
Last summer, the circle in his career was closed. At the age of 31, Mr. Benson was at a low ebb, especially for a young educator. His energy and enthusiasm were being sapped by an administrative assignment dominated by paper work, far from his idea of education. When Mrs. Bozzi offered him the principal’s position at Star Prep Academy, he did not need to think it over. “I jumped at the chance,” Mr. Benson said, “when I learned what they were doing here for gifted students.
“This is exactly what I wanted to do in life when it came to education.”
Next: Mr. Benson explains the meaning behind Star Prep Academy’s motto that “we are a school for the gifted and talented.”
