Extended Summer Year, otherwise known as ESY has been the
means to which I have spent most of my summers as a professional. Shortly after finishing a grueling school
year filled with ups and down, I take about one week off to go back to ESY and
allow our students the opportunity to have some structure and connection over
their summer.
Unlike other schools, my school has exclusively students
with social emotional challenges.
Something as fun and exciting as a summer vacation can be a daunting
task for my students. They struggle with
the lack of structure and often do not know what to do with their time. Many of their challenges make camp out of the
question due to parent’s fear of them being kicked out. ESY has become the safe haven for these
students. It is much less about the academic
portion and more a bridge to the next year, filled with support, fun, and
caring adults.
During the summer of 2016, I had a group of 8th
graders who came to school each day with low energy and not much enthusiasm for
the day. About half way into the summer,
our team decided to enlist them in a fundraiser. We would sell slushies on the street and use
the money to take them out to a restaurant for lunch. The students took on different roles,
learning who was good at the art work for the posters, who was good at speaking
to customers, who would handle the money and so forth. As the weeks progressed, the students became
more invested in the process and learning the skill of customer relations
leading to more sales.
By the end of the summer, our students had made enough money
to pay for 15 people to eat for free at a restaurant. We proudly walked to the restaurant on the
last week of the program and sat down at a table that was reserved just for us. Each student, some of which for the first
time ever, got the opportunity to order a meal of their choosing. We ate together as a team, knowing that our
hard work paid for our bountiful meal.
It was a good day. It
was a great meal. It was the best day of
my career.
No comments:
Post a Comment