Project BOOST (Building Options and Opportunities for Students) is a program created for late elementary and middle school students who have excelled academically and it gives them an opportunity to develop their academic talent. Project BOOST's principal goal is to help its students gain admission to “quality high schools” upon finishing the program (eighth grade). CEI-PEA (Center for Educational Innovation-Public Education Association), the organization that funds the Project BOOST program, states on its website that “’Quality high schools’ are competitive, specialized high schools, including local educational option schools and private schools, as well as independent schools (both commuter and residential) and parochial schools.”
To accomplish this goal, Project BOOST schools, such as P.S. 8, provide its students with enrichment activities, academic guidance, and community service experiences. Project BOOST students at P.S. 8 volunteer at New York Presbyterian Hospital, write the school newspaper, attend Broadway shows, and visit museums like the Hall of Science in Queens.
According to CEI-PEA, in its first four years, Project BOOST has successfully graduated all of their participating eighth graders into quality high schools, such as, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School, Beacon High School, CUNY High School of Engineering, LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts, Manhattan Center for Math and Science, as well as preparatory schools located outside the city. Furthermore, several Project BOOST students have earned in excess of $26,000 per year to attend boarding preparatory schools.