KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The program is called Spark and the idea is simple: The YMCA of Greater Kansas City partners with local school districts as a way to intervene and halt the “summer slide” that some students experience academically between the end of one school year and the start of the next.
“We’re a great supplement program that provides academic support in the mornings and camp experiences in the afternoon,” YMCA Senior Vice President for Youth Development Darcy Swan said. “Our goal is to help combat summer slide and give kids a great, fun place to go in the summer to engage with their peers and learning.”
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The “summer slide” isn’t a new concept. It’s been fretted about for more than a century, but new research suggests math and reading skills are the most vulnerable, hence the focus for Spark.
“Literacy is kind of the heart of everything with academics,” Swan said. “The more you read, the more you can access more complex text and, the more complex text you can access, the higher level of courses you can take in high school and college. For us, literacy is really about (being) college and career-ready. It’s about helping kids succeed in all content areas, because all content areas require some type of reading.”
The YMCA partnered with Lead to Read, which offers one-on-one sessions via tablet with students in addition to individual and group reading time in the morning — but there’s also some fun built in every afternoon.
“We did spelling yesterday and today,” said Trent Wealot, a Spark camper. “Tomorrow is Kona Ice and then after tomorrow is swimming. Friday is just field trips.”
Trent’s class is reading “Holes” together.
“Oh, it’s a good book,” he said. “It’s a great book."
While parts of it may seem like school, Trent and other campers don’t mind doing a little learning in the summer.
“It’s a lot of stuff, but in between classes there could be some fun stuff,” he said. “If you read books, you’re getting smarter."
Bentley Lozada — a fourth-grader who’s also attending Spark at Oak Grove, which is in the Turner School District — agreed.
“It helps you read more longer words that are in the book,” Lozada said.
He’s enjoying “Holes,” but that’s not his favorite book.
“My favorite books are the Magic Treehouse books,” Lozada said.
As long as he’s reading — and learning to enjoy reading — it’s a win. That’s exactly the “spark” the YMCA program aims to ignite.
“That camp experience is still Kona Ice, it’s still swimming, it’s still field trips, it’s health and wellness in the gym or outside — it’s all the pieces of camp, but with an academic focus, and that focus happens to be literacy,” Swan said. “... As part of our social responsibility and youth development, we look for ways to help fill those gaps in the community. That’s really our goal.”
The YMCA has more than 100 students at Spark camps this week in the Turner School District and at the Hope Leadership Academy. There’s another planned next month in the Shawnee Mission School District.
Attendance at Spark is free through grant funding, including support from the Hall Family Foundation.
The YMCA offers more than a dozen day camps across the Kansas City area.
“We are just excited for the opportunity to grow this concept,” Swan said.
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