Saugus summer program a decade-long success story

SAUGUS – Parents call it school. Children call it camp.Sue Carney just calls it summer enrichment.Carney, principal of the Lynnhurst School, created the enrichment program to bridge the learning gap between spring and fall while keeping things creative and fun by playing games, doing crafts and experiments, singing and writing songs, and learning new languages.Now in its 10th year at the Veterans School, the program has reached hundreds of students.With the freedom to teach and explore topics outside the standard curriculum, the program has no grades and the kids get to interact between classrooms.?They learn so many different things and the staff is wonderful,” said Maria Bambury, whose child participates in the program. “They keep kids entertained and find lots to do in a few hours.”As one teacher put it, “They get to do special activities that you don?t have time to do in a regular school environment.”Over the last four weeks, the kids learned about Africa and solar energy, light, and color. Some of the highlights of the unit were a scavenger safari hunt, learning to barter with Lion King cards, African stepping and even some Swahili. The program, however fun, still incorporates math, science, reading, and sign language every day, and some kids bring lunch and stay at the school for tutoring in the afternoon. Staples of the program are the book swap and the annual end-of-the-year carnival, which took place Wednesday.In the beginning, Carney and her staff had only 18 kindergartners and parents paid $245 per child. Now, though the program has expanded to 180 school-age kids, the price has only gone up to $295, and includes a free T-shirt.?In 10 years, not one student has dropped out of the program or asked for their money back,” Carney said.Actually, they keep coming back.Carney now has kids that are too old for the program who stay on as volunteers to help the teachers. Oftentimes, many kids in a family are involved, like the Alba?s, who have three kids in the program and one volunteer. John Alba said one of the best things he learned this year was that “African elephants has ears shaped like Africa.” Carney smiled and said, “That everybody?s favorite fact.”A big component of the program every year is interaction.Fifth-graders leave the program with friends from other schools who will reunite at the middle school in the fall, making a big transition a little easier. They learn how to have fun alongside younger kids, and how to accept responsibility by running the games at the carnival.The interaction between the summer enrichment program and the extended program for special needs students is one that Carney calls a bonus. Kids in the extended program work on the same subjects as the enrichment program. Gifted, remedial, left-brained, right-brained – they all work on the same things while catering to their own strengths. “It?s interest-driven,” Carney said, adding that some kids get so into their projects that they go home and make stories and posters on Africa. “They bring them in the next day and share them with everyone. There?s always applause.”Carney is actually on the right track when it comes to her program. A recent TIME magazine article, “The Case Against Summer Vacation” by David Von Drehle, says that the summer break is actually causing kids to lose a lot of what they?ve learned during the year. Experts are saying that fun, yet brain-stimulating activities are the best way to keep up with the class and the rest of the world.Parents and kids alike can attest that what seems like two months of sweet freedom in June actually feels like sweaty boredom by the end of July. According to the article, kids who participate in camps, sports, art classes, or just read or write during the summer are likely to do better in the fall.