More than two dozen girls are celebrating a meaningful milestone. They completed a four week program called the Lift While You Lead Empowerment Project during the Merced City School District’s Summer Academy for Academic Achievement. They marked the occasion during a closing ceremony at UC Merced on July 7th, but their journey is just beginning.
The program aims to increase self-esteem and improve academics, discipline, and attendance. It also promotes higher education and helps the girls become leaders in their schools and community. The course includes classroom activities at Rivera Middle School and field trips to places such as Merced College and CSU-Monterey Bay. The group also took a trip to Yosemite Ziplines and Adventure Ranch in Mariposa, where the students conquered a ropes course more than 30 feet above the ground by supporting one another.
The Lift While You Lead Empowerment Project is made possible thanks to collaboration between multiple agencies. The girls are all Merced City School District students heading into eighth grade. Their teacher, Annie Delgado, works for the Merced Union High School District and continues to interact with the students and track their progress throughout their high school years. The girls are also mentored by students in the Women’s Program at UC Merced. Field trips are funded through the Educational Employees Credit Union.
This is the second class of middle school girls to take part in the program. Members of the inaugural class have already shown results by raising their combined grade point average from 2.8 to 3.26. Those “original trailblazers” are also involved in encouraging other girls to follow in their footsteps, including current participant Edith Hernandez. She says, “This program is great…If you have insecurities or low self-esteem and want to be confident, this program helps you a lot, and there are also people who go through what you’re going through so they help you through it, and they encourage you.” Hernandez says she’s been inspired to make better choices and has dreams of becoming an attorney.
During Thursday’s closing ceremony, the girls each spoke about the impact Lift While You Lead has had on their lives, and they performed a song called “Brave” by Sara Bareilles for their family and friends.
Students are enjoying hands-on learning at the Summer Academy for Academic Achievement, particularly in the "STEAM" subjects: science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics.
Each grade level has its own unique "thematic engineering" lessons, such as solar energy, pollination, and vertical farms. The students begin with the basics and ultimately conduct experiments and create models.
Rivera Middle School is hosting students heading into seventh and eighth grades, while Peterson and Reyes Elementary Schools are serving students going into third through sixth grades. Reyes also has a Fast Track program for young English learners heading into kindergarten, first, and second grades.
Click here to read the complete Merced Sun-Star column: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/education/article87211127.html
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