MNPS’s largest-ever summer program kicked off Monday with nearly 15,000 students at 70 schools for an academically enriching and fun mix of in-person learning and other activities.
Promising Scholars, a free program that runs through July 2, offers classroom learning; science, technology, and art; physical activity, and other experiences. Students at all levels can make up for some of the face-to-face instruction they missed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or keep up their academic momentum from the end of the 2020-21 school year, which wrapped up on May 25.
“Promising Scholars is going to give our students great opportunities to catch up academically through face-to-face learning, make new friends, learn new things, and have fun for the next four weeks,” Director of Schools Dr. Adrienne Battle said.
“I want to thank the nearly 2,000 MNPS staff members at the various school sites, hundreds more in the Support Hub, our various community partners, and all the students and family members who helped us get off to a great start across the district today.”
Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts enrolled 124 students for Promising Scholars in grades 6 to 8, split almost evenly between students who attend Creswell full-time and students from other middle schools. One class got underway a little after 9 a.m. with an icebreaker. Students paired off, learned each other’s names, and then asked one another a question before meeting a new classmate with another question: Would you rather be a zebra or a panda? Would you prefer to be really fast or really strong? Would you rather have an extra finger or an extra toe?
Ashley Thomas, who is Creswell’s assistant principal and the site lead for Promising Scholars, said students will take a pre-test Tuesday and a post-test during the final week.
“I want to see a growth score for every student,” Thomas said. “Parents chose to be here because they wanted more support for their students. They hope this face-to-face interaction opportunity will get their students ahead.”
The great majority of the 130 Promising Scholars at
Fall-Hamilton Elementary School are full-time students there, and the chance to go ahead and start working with some of the teachers they’ll have in August was a big draw, especially after a year spent mostly away from school.
“A lot of it was the relationships the teachers had,” said Chelsea Gonzalez, instructional coach at Fall-Hamilton and the lead teacher for Promising Scholars there. “It's getting used to coming back to school. A lot of the virtual students’ families were excited about it.”
Visit the
Promising Scholars page for more information on the program.