A six-week summer camp that supports low-income kids with hands-on science, technology, engineering and math got underway this week at three Gilroy schools.
In all, about 750 Gilroy elementary and middle school students are fighting the so-called summer learning loss this year by participating in Super Power Summer Camp, sponsored by the Gilroy Unified School District and its partners.
In addition to the science, tech and math, they students also are exposed to a variety of college and career options.
Sections of the program are held at Eliot Elementary School, Glen View Elementary School and Brownell Middle School.
“The kids are in a healthy and safe environment where they are excited about learning. They are motivated to become engaged and love to be at camp.” Said Amanda Reedy, Program Administrator for Power School After School Programs.
“It is also important that we are providing the opportunity for them to learn over the summer so that they don’t have summer learning loss,” Reedy added.
Summer learning loss can be significant, according to Nazaneen Khalilnaji-Otto, Summer Matters Campaign Manager for Partnership for Children and Youth (PCY).
“The research on summer learning loss is really clear. If kids don’t have productive opportunities in the summer, they lose 2 to 3 months of reading and math skill,” Khalilnaji-Otto is quoted as saying in a Gilroy Unified School District press release.
“What Gilroy Unified is doing is really smart,” Khalilnaji-Otto added, “They are helping students practice skills, and they are making learning fun.”
The Super Power Summer camp is one of several summer programs offered by the district and serves students in grades two through eight.
Core curriculum of the camp focuses on one career or major each week. These themes include: Zoology, business, engineering, culinary arts and kinesiology.
The hands-on lessons in the classroom are complemented by field trips and visits from local firefighters, police officers and the 49’ers Jr. Training Camp.
The 200 middle school students attending the program will visit the Gavilan Community College campus and San Jose State University. Middle school students will also visit Levi’s Stadium and The Tech Museum of Innovation among other sites.
Elementary school students involved in the program will also go on field trips related to the careers investigated each week. Those trips include the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, The Tech Museum of Innovation and Henry W. Coe State Park, east of Morgan Hill and Gilroy.
