South Sound YMCA Announces Power Scholars Academy

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South Sound YMCA's Power Scholars Academy pairs learning opportunities in the morning with traditional summer camp activities in the afternoon.
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Submitted by South Sound YMCA

Power Scholars Academy (PSA) starts June 20 and addresses summer learning loss for low-income children living in urban communities, enhancing overall youth development, academic performance, and graduation rates. Mornings focus on academic instruction (provided by certified teachers) in math and reading topics, while the afternoon offers a more traditional “Y camp” experience integrated with STEM and community service projects. On Fridays we’ll take them swimming in our local Y pools, arrange field trips to develop cultural competency, and bring in guest speakers to inspire Scholars to build the best of their potential.

Students in the Power Scholars Academy are referred by their schools as needing additional academic help throughout the summer.
Students in the Power Scholars Academy are referred by their schools as needing additional academic help throughout the summer.

We’ve partnered with Olympia School District and North Thurston Public Schools to identify 50 Scholars entering 2nd or 3rd grade to participate in the pilot. Each family will receive a scholarship covering 100% of the program cost and each Scholar will bring home a backpack full of books, math manipulatives, and workbooks at the end of the summer. We expect each Scholar to gain 2-3 months of math and reading skills at the end of 5 weeks, measured with a pre- and post-test built into the curriculum. All of our curriculum is developed by BELL (a partner of Scholastic) and is tailored to each grade cluster.

We will operate out of Gloria Dei (West Olympia) and St. Mark’s (Lacey) Lutheran churches. Each church is located across the street from a partnered school (Garfield Elementary and Mt. View Elementary, respectively) so Scholars will utilize the community lunch program and have access to the playground for recess. The program at Gloria Dei runs June 20 – August 5, with a one-week break in the middle. St. Mark’s runs from June 20 – July 29.

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PSA includes a visit to the Y’s pools each Friday.

The kids are chosen based on their current academic standing in their own school. These are students who are behind in math, reading or both, and are identified as “low-income” (ie. qualifying for free or reduced lunch).

This program is not available to the public for open registration—it is by district invitation only. Parents may inquire about the program with their child’s teacher or school principal, or can contact Kacey Kimmel at kimmelk@ssymca.net for more information.

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