By Cary Shuman
The Celebrate Literacy Day committee is planning its annual event for Aug. 30. The proceeds will benefit Anthony Seaforth’s No Ceilings Movement organization. From left, are event co-chair Saritin Rizzuto, Wendy Joseph, Debra Lee Surface, Diane Moreno, Anthony Seaforth, Carolina Trujillo, Patrick Cogan, Michelle Grzela, Paula Roux-Murphy, and Ariel Noesi.
Anthony Seaforth, former Lynn Classical and Bentley University football standout, and his organization, No Ceilings Movement (NCM), will be the honored beneficiary of the proceeds from the annual Celebrate Literacy Day event on Aug. 30 in Lynn.
Seaforth is founder and executive director of the NCM organization that began in 2011 and has succeeded in keeping Lynn high school students academically eligible for athletics, assisting them in the college application process, mentoring them socially, and providing other resources such as financial aid support and job placement support..
“It’s a 360 mentoring program where we wrap around what the needs of the students are,” said Seaforth, who was inducted in to the Classical Hall of Fame in April.
The Celebrate Literacy Day committee interviewed several candidates before deeming that No Ceilings was the best choice for its monetary donation.
Seaforth’s group has focused its efforts mainly on the Classical and English athletic programs, spending two days a week working at each school. Seaforth is hoping to expand to other schools in the 2017-18 academic year. Last year the organization was funded through a contract with the city.
Seaforth started the group as a pilot program two years ago. Last year he began a study hall and academic monitoring at the two schools and the results were excellent.
When Seaforth sees “a red flag” in a student’s academic record, he sets up a one-on-one meeting with teachers. He also assists students during study hall and provides mentoring support beyond the home.
All students who made a commitment to the NCM study halls improved their grades and maintained their athletic eligibility for the entire school year. That’s a 100-percent success rate.
Seaforth said NCM would not have reached its goals without the support of Lynn school administrators and teachers.
“We found that teachers were willing to help out students because they saw that these student-athletes were putting in the effort after school to work hard on their academics,” said Seaforth.
Seaforth also praised the athletic staff and head coaches at English and Classical while singling out the participation of assistant coaches Sam Hill, P.J. Holey, Jasper Grassa, and Tyler Alicudo.
Seaforth is grateful to the Celebrate Literacy Day committee for the monetary award.
“We are so grateful for their generosity and support,” said Seaforth. “This donation is going to help us expand our efforts and provide more resources to students so they can be successful in the classroom.”
Seaforth also thanked former Lynn Classical head football coach Matt Durgin for being “a tremendous, positive influence” in his career. During his LCHS Hall of Fame acceptance speech in April, Seaforth enthusiastically endorsed Durgin for induction in to the Hall of Fame.