Gilroy has Summer Learning Super Powers!

This summer, Gilroy’s Super Power Summer Camp has been a true testament to super-powered community partnerships. By working with the Youth Alliance, Mount Madonna YMCA and CalSOAP, Super Power Summer Camp has been able to provide hands-on STEM learning opportunities for Gilroy Unified School District students who might not otherwise be able to attend private summer camps.

The 800 students who took part in Super Power Summer Camp won’t be playing catch-up when they return to school this Fall. But other students who weren’t fortunate enough to enjoy engaging summer learning activities may well have fallen victim to the “summer learning loss” phenomenon. Just as physical inactivity leads to muscle degeneration, when students stop using their brains during the summer, they forget much of what they have learned over the past year. What’s more, summer learning loss is cumulative, and as students fall further behind each year they become discouraged and unmotivated. Ultimately, summer learning loss leads to increased drop-out rates, which is deeply damaging to families, schools and communities.

For seven weeks this summer, K-8 Gilroy students have the opportunity to participate in high quality summer learning programs that included a wide variety of academic subjects, as well as literacy, nutrition and physical fitness. They also bolstered equally-important social skills, confidence, and motivation.

Super Power Summer Camp and its partners are a standout success in the Summer Matters campaign to ensure that all students in California have access to high quality summer learning opportunities to advance their critical thinking skills during the all-important summer learning months.  Visit http://summermatters2you.net/ to learn why summer matters more than ever.