Jay Wright, the head coach of men’s college basketball power Villanova University, stood in front of about 50 Bronx middle schoolers earlier this summer at the Riverdale Country School gym flanked by one of his star players, Corey Fisher, a Bronx native with NBA potential.

“Happy are those who dream, and are willing to pay the price to make those dreams come true,” Wright told the rapt crowd of starry-eyed kids, all wearing red and blue T-shirts emblazoned with “New Heights Summer Academy. Leaders. Champions. Student Athletes.”

The assembled kids were all members of New Heights New York City, a non-profit organization based in University Heights that provides athletic and academic after-school, summer, and weekend programs year-round for 155 middle and high school students.

Since its founding in 2001, New Heights says it’s seen 100 percent of its members graduate from high school and enroll in college (80 percent of those, they say, will be first-generation college grads). Its core program, College Bound, combines basketball with individual high school and college counseling, test prep, school visits, and one-on-one tutoring.

Both boys and girls are accepted into New Heights based on a tryout, an interview, and an application process.

“Basketball is the hook,” says New Heights Executive Director Richard Souto. “We use basketball to help kids stay focused on their academic achievement.”

Funded by a combination of foundation and corporate grants, individual donors, and special events, the cost to participants of the program is “relatively free.” As Ted Smith, the New Heights program director, explains, the program is “free, but we ask and expect them to help fundraise.”

“New Heights was the biggest factor in my life. I don’t know what I’d be right now without New Heights,” says Jose D’Oleo, 18, a counselor at the summer academy in Riverdale who started at New Heights in sixth grade.

D’Oleo remembers a day in ninth grade when a volunteer at New Heights’ Saturday Skills program suggested that he apply to boarding school. The following fall, after working with New Heights counselors, D’Oleo was playing basketball at the George School — a prestigious boarding school in Pennsylvania —  alongside Emmanuel Tapin, 19, another original New Heights member.

This year, D’Oleo and Tapin became freshmen at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

While the two are moving on to pursue careers outside of sports, they remain devoted to the program that helped get them where they are. “Now [we’re] back here working [as the 7th grade group leaders at the Summer Academy] to tell the kids that without academics you can’t do basketball,” Tapin said over the summer.

The New Heights Summer Academy, which runs five days a week, eight hours a day for five weeks, fills mornings with classroom learning and afternoons with slam dunks and jump shots on the court.

In 2005, New Heights developed a partnership with the private Riverdale Country School, which now shares its superb athletic facilities with the Summer Academy. Ruben Montilla, the Summer Academy program coordinator, says establishing the Riverdale partnership was one of New Heights’ greatest breakthroughs, allowing kids “to see there are great schools here in the city.” Montilla is a self-described New Heights “pioneer” — the first to venture to boarding school —  and a recent graduate of Georgetown University.

Success stories like Montilla’s, D’Oleo’s and Tapin’s are prevalent among New Heights’ graduates.

Souto explains the phenomenon: “Reason one is that a student athlete is recognized as a special person in their community, in their school. Two is that they’re future focused, always looking for the next level they can get to. And three is that through sports, they’ve developed a set of values, like teamwork, hard work, and learning to both win and lose. There’s a tendency to avoid bad stuff [like drugs] if you’re committed to your sport.”

Success was the theme of Wright and Fisher’s visit. Wright told Fisher’s story as an example. As a “chubby” teenager in the Bronx, “Corey said to himself, ‘I gotta get outta here. Cause I’m not gonna make my dreams come true if I stay here.’” Fisher then stopped eating at McDonald’s, got in shape, and once at Villanova, stayed on campus in summer months to study.

“Corey’s dream is to be in the NBA. His dream is also to get a college degree,” said Wright, emphasizing the balance between sports and school. “Every night,” Wright added later, “when your head hits the pillow, ask yourself, what do I have to do to make my dream come true?”

One of New Heights’ dreams for the future is to expand and “serve more people,” Montilla says. “To improve New Heights would be to get more resources. We could bus kids from different neighborhoods, pay for their MetroCards. Some people don’t have four dollars a day to get their kids here.” Montilla says.

“[New Heights] put us in situations where we can succeed,” Montilla continues. “New Heights gave us the opportunity to take advantage of our unfulfilled potential.”

Ed. note: New Heights is located at 2336 Andrews Ave. The phone number is (718) 933-1177. Their Web site is at www.newheightsnyc.org.