For the second year in a row, Harvard will offer a summer enrichment program for students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The program will be funded by a $75,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. More than 100 invitations have been extended to Harvard families to participate in the program this summer.
The first session will run for two weeks; the second session continues for three weeks. Each week, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon, students will work in small groups on a mix of academic, enrichment, and recreation activities.
This summer program will be like the one in 2021, meant to help students adjust after years of disrupted learning and social dynamics; it was widely popular among the more than 100 Harvard students who participated. “Students enjoyed coming … it gave them time to see friends and to interact socially together,” said Superintendent Linda Dwight. “We just did a mix of fun and learning. It was so popular last year, and we were really happy to be able to apply for it again this year.”
Dwight emphasized that students’ confidence in their academic abilities improved through participation in the summer sessions. She noted that this program offers the opportunity “to provide fun learning opportunities for students and to do that at no charge to the community, and then to really boost the students’ confidence and skills.”
Sudbury Public Schools were also awarded a grant for a summer enrichment program. The grant is funded by the summer learning budget of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, federal funds from Elementary & Secondary Education Emergency Relief (ESSER) and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief fund.
