Photo by clare jensen
SUMMER SCHOOL. Sophomore Kevin Johnson, right, prepares to examine his own DNA during a class taught by Jennifer Holm, left, as part of the Summer Academic Challenge.
Less than one week after summer vacation officially began in Tacoma, about 60 middle and high school students chose to head back into the classroom.
“I couldn’t imagine not coming here during the summer,” said Kevin Johnson, a 10th-grader at Tacoma School of the Arts. This is Johnson’s third year taking the Summer Academic Challenge (SAC), four weeks of a science and math focused curriculum at University of Puget Sound (UPS).
It is a free program offered to seventh through 12th-graders who signed onto UPS’ Access Program, a year-round enrichment program that aims to get historically under-represented student populations into college settings.
Students at select East Side and South Tacoma middle schools can apply to the Access Program in seventh grade and get exposed to college prep tactics, tutoring and field trips throughout the school year. Within the Access Program, students can apply to the competitive SAC, which takes only students and parents who are serious about the summer learning opportunity.
“We want to help facilitate these students who do want to map their path to college, especially in historically under-represented students,” said Kim Bobby, program director and chief director of diversity at UPS. “We know science and math are the gatekeepers to college. And we know students lose ground in the summer.”
This year’s SAC kicked off June 24.
On June 30, instructor Jennifer Holm directed a group of high school students while they studied strands of their own DNA. So far this session the group has visited the Pacific Science Center in Seattle and in the coming week will take a field trip to a local forensics crime lab.
“It’s different than summer school – I don’t assign homework,” said Holm, who teaches science at Lincoln High School. “We just learn a lot all day long.”
Like all instructors in the SAC, Holm comes straight from Tacoma Public Schools (TPS). This is her third year teaching at the SAC.
As part of the ongoing goal of the UPS and TPS partnership to get more students into college, the SAC has proven to positively impact the students’ educational careers.
Bobby noted that she knows many SAC alumni have gone on to college after high school, but a formal study on the success of the program will not come out until next year.
However, Bobby noted that every student who participates in the SAC at least graduates high school on time, which says a lot in Tacoma, a district that loses about one-third of its high schoolers before they reach commencement.
“Students’ grades go up, they’re more confident, and they see their campus as a resource,” after being in the SAC, Bobby said. “The goal is to get them into college.”
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