FLOC’s piloted “College Bridge” summer program proved a learning experience for both students and staff. Monday through Thursday, fourteen rising 9th graders spent the day at our DC location participating in educational instruction such as language arts and math as well as electives, which included courses exploring art, health and fitness, the power of film, and civics.
Fridays were spent exploring the city at various offsite locations including a tour and student panel discussion at George Washington University, a trip to the National Gallery of Art, and even a trip to play tennis at a local park with tutor, Cecilia Jones. During the fifth week of summer program, students ventured to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia to our Outdoor Education Center [http://www.flocoutdoors.org] for a week of adventure, fun, and new experiences. The kids participated in a wide range of activities including a trip to a Claymont Farms, a community farm that provides the OEC with some of its produce, canoeing, a trip to Harpers Ferry to explore the community, rock climbing, mountain biking, low ropes and high ropes courses, and a variety of activities using the surrounding ecosystems. Despite many of the students’ fears about spending a week in the middle of the woods, they had a great time, learning a lot and having the opportunity to bond with one another and staff.
College Bridge students participated in the first language arts curriculum developed by FLOC staff. Students were able to work on fine-tuning writing and reading skills in areas of grammar, composition and comprehension. As they explored communities and relationships within the text of Stargirl students reflectively examined themselves and the community that surrounds them through autobiography and community scrap book assignments. To prepare for literary research at the high school levels, students participated in a poetry slam featuring presentations on famous poets and poems as well as the reciting of original work. Budding poets presented their own poems alongside witnessing their peers tackle and recite the works of renowned poets ranging from Gwedolyn Brooks to William Shakespeare.
Educational activities throughout the summer were hands-on learning experiences for students with real world applications. One such example arose when students in the math classes explored aspects of architecture and design when developing their own ideas for a new FLOC facility and eventually presented their ideas to some employees at SHW Group, a local architecture firm. At the start of the project, they participated in an architecture conference with employees from SHW Group who brought examples of architecture materials and introduced the students to the career of architecture and interior design.
Following their initial sketches on tracing paper, students transferred their designs to Google SketchUp, a free design program created by Google. Students enjoyed unleashing their creativity into their designs—examples of design pieces include: a skateboard park, a helicopter landing pad, an outdoor pool with diving board, an attractive and unique building entrance, an igloo-shaped skylight window, clear glass ceilings, a building shaped in the letters “FLOC”, and outdoor park areas for students to work. The students presented their ideas to the rest of the class, guests, and employees from SHW group. In their presentations, students discussed their overall design goal, a challenge they faced in the design process and how they overcame it, and three features of their design they wanted the audience to notice. The SHW representatives then made comments about each student’s work and awarded prizes to each student. Tony Hernandez won “Best Overall Design”. Tony’s future goal is to design video games.
According to staff member and math teacher Katarina Grande, “the project helped students tackle geometric concepts in a fun, career-based way.” These types of active experiences were commonplace throughout the summer as students put their knowledge to work in new and exciting ways.
For the Art elective, students participated in a variety of projects. According to art instructor, Hannah Hermanson, students seemed to enjoy creating sculptures and self-portraits the most. The students developed an understanding of art and how it can be used as a form of expression. When asked what art is, Steven Franklin responded, “Art is creation and imagination.” During the trip to the National Gallery of Art, students viewed artwork by Leonardo DaVinci, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keefe, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse. Before going on the trip students searched the National Gallery of Art Website [www.nga.gov] to have a better idea of what to expect. Students were able to see first hand some famous works of art and gain a better understanding of the various ways artists are able to express themselves.
In the Health, Hunger & Hip Hop elective class, students learned about healthy eating and exercise habits and even learned some Hip Hop dance moves from one of the board members! Power of Film students viewed, critiqued, analyzed, and discussed images seen in contemporary film that address real life issues and education and how both effect them as a person, as a member of the community, and across the world.
Towards the end of the program, several events took place to display and share the work students created. Staff members attended and praised the work of students. The students worked hard all summer and were able to show off what their effort produced and the end result was certainly something they could all be proud of.
