SUMMER PROGRAM

SCHOOL PROGRAM

/ OVERVIEW

01

The Summer Program is a central part of Upward Bound. The Summer Program allows 40 members of Upward Bound to live on Bridgewater State University's campus. This gives students a taste of what it would be like to live on campus, and is incredibly helpful to a student's development. Student's will gain confidence living on a college campus, take courses to prepare them for the upcoming year, participate in community service, go on field trips, take a college tour, and so much more! The program runs for six weeks and is often the highlight of the students Upward Bound Experience.

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/ WEEKLY UPDATES

Week one was a great success in Weygand Hall. The students loved their new digs and we were more than excited to have them in the cool new building. Ono Sunday students got settledinto the building after they were dropped off. Monday marked day one for the summer program. The students participated in games and activities to help to get to know each other better. They also started their door decorating competition which was a great success. Students showed off their creativity in their door decorating competition. The students were given the task of decorating the door in line with the theme for the summer program. The theme for this summer program is "Upward Bound- Where Dreams Come True." The doors were INCREDIBLE! The students in Upward Bound do not lack creativity! We will post pictures of the doors in a gallery below. On Tuesday we began our regular schedules. Students attended classes in the morning, and did their homework in the afternoon. They did the same on Wednesday of this week due to the short week but next week the regular schedule will allow us to do community service and a field trip. Thursday students went home for the long weekend following classes. In classes students spent time doing experiments, prepping for their books, workign on math skills, and learning the foundations of Latin. We are looking forward to having the students back for another week. We do wish to apologize for the bus issues on Thursday. This will not be a regular occurrance. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact Ms. Karner.

Week two was a wonderful week. This was our first full week and we were excited to have community service and field trip tossed into our week. The students have been doing a great job in their classes and have been very participatory. The Bridge students began their first week of class and are getting to see what a college course is really like. On Wednesday we began with our community service at Stonehill Farm. We got to see what the farmers do regularly, and how much food they distribute to the local community. We helped picking tomatos, squash, and cucumbers. We also helped to weed so they could plant more to help the Brockton/Easton community. After this we headed to the Carousel Family Fun Center where students got a chance to celebrate and skate with their friends. Let me tell you, we have some TALENTED skaters. That night we began working on Parent Day which we are very excited for.

Thursday was the beginning of our guest speaker series. We had Michael Mallery, a program specialist from UCONN came to speak to the students about a program he created called SWAG. SWAG stands for Students With Academic Goals. Mr. Mallery discussed the successes he has had in his life, the failures he has seen, struggling to get through, and surrounding yourself with the right people. It was an INCREDIBLE evening. We all felt really blessed to have him come! Overall we had an awesome week, see some pictures below! We are already looking forward to week three! If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact Ms. Karner or Ms. Sligh!

As we reach the halfway point in our program we are very excited to say that we have been having a great summer. The students are doing a great job in their classes and activities. We had a great week filled with team challenges and fun activities. The students have been working very hard and we are looking forward to our next three weeks! On Wednesday we went to the Boston Food Bank which is always a favorite community service! We LOVE spending time there and sorting the food and the students really help the surrounding communities. In the two hours we were there we sorted 4,852 pounds of food which is enough for 2,986 meals! Afterwards we went to the Urban Art Bar. Urban Art Bar was a wonderful experience and each student left with an original piece of art. This allowed us to enjoy a more creative side. On Thursday the students got to hear a speaker from Elizabeth Warren's Office. She was a regional director and they had the opportunity to hear about the government hands on. Photos will be uploades shortly!

Week 4 offered many different opportunities to the students. We did an on campus community service for the JUMPSTART program at Bridgewater State University. JUMPSTART is an organization that aids young children in literacy and other important aspects of education. Students made ABC books for the students and got very creative. It is always impressive how artistic and creative each student is. Later in the day the TCs put on a fun FEAR FACTOR activity where students were asked to do some very different activities in order to occupy their day. It was impressive to see the students come together in their team challenge groups. We also had the weather work with us and got to see a movie for the students on one of the large fields. Thursday was the highlight of the week as we had an alumni panel come in to talk to our students about their time in Upward Bound, college, and so much more. It was great to see the UB family working together and the students seemed to learn a lot. We also completed the UB 50th Anniversary video which can be found at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uZetgiu4L4

As the program is coming to an end we had a lot of fun planned. The students are wrapping up their classes with only finals ahead of them come the end of this week and we are very proud of the dedication that students put forth. On Wednesday we gave back to the Brockton Community with School on Wheels. The students also got to go jump around at skyzone and it was a real ball. On Thursday we heard from Jason Pina who is a Vice President of Student Affairs for Bridgewater State.