"Transforming People & Communities from the Inside Out."
published July 04, 2009
Summer Program Opens Doors Of Opportunity
Needs Room To Expand
Since Brenda and her husband work full time, they were thankful to find a summer academic program for their children to attend. Brenda attends school full time and will graduate in December with a degree in criminal justice. She also works part time, and her husband works full-time.
All three of her children will participate this year. “We could pay a babysitter, but last summer’s program was so good for the kids. They love the range of activities, and it’s really made a difference in their studies,” she says. “Breakthrough’s program builds on what my husband and I are already doing, so we are really thankful that they were able to get into the program.”
Read about this year’s Summer Studies Program>
In fact, Breakthrough’s Summer Studies program and the Nettie Bailey Student Achievement Program (NBSAP) for after-school have waiting lists for youth to get involved. “We’ll enroll 60 kids in this year’s Summer Studies,” says K-5th Academic Coordinator, Andrea Jensen. “A lot of new families want to get their students in, but we always give priority enrollment to students who finish the year in our after-school program.”
Breakthrough was able to enroll more students in the NBSAP this year, but both that and the Summer Studies program are at capacity. “We’d like to almost double our current capacity for students in both the Summer Studies and NBSAP,” says Andrea. “Once we complete the Breakthrough FamilyPlex, we’ll certainly have the space to do so. Right now, we’re bursting at the seams.” This summer’s junior high program will move to the Breakthrough Ministry Center from the Breakthrough Joshua Center to allow all students to have a little more space.
She continues, “Our summer program is a good point of entry for students and their families. We’ve found that students who get involved through Summer Studies first are generally more successful in our after-school program.”
Summer Studies plays an important role in the academic success of youth and prevents summer “brain drain.” Students who participated in the program increased their proficiency by an average of three months, and those who did not dropped in proficiency by about three months, widening the gap even further.