Curtis Warriors Making Big Gains

For several years the Warriors, like a few other Island programs, had an academic support system through the assistance of the National Football Foundation's Play it Smart program. But when funding for that dried up, Baratta went out in search of a way to fill the void.
 
"I wasn't the academic coach," said Baratta, who is in his sixth year teaching math and coaching football at Curtis, "but I saw the benefits to it so I started researching academic advising."
 
At an academic advising conference at St. John's University in Queens, Baratta connected with Jon Harris of The Athlife Foundation.

"He was trying to rescue these Play it Smart schools and save that model," said Baratta. "But he had no funding. We signed on to be a part of the Athlife mentoring program. We're allowed to run the program as we see fit.
 
"We don't have any funding yet. Everything's dry. But this is something that (head coach) Pete (Gambardella) and myself and (assistant coach) Charlie (Packowski) are doing anyway."