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Summer program available for free By SUE WATSON
Staff Writer All
students in grades 7-12 in Marshall County can go to a free,
extended-year summer program provided by Ole Miss and Mississippi
Teacher Corps, according to Germain McConnell, assistant dean of the
Department of Education at the university. In the
past four years, the program has cost parents, but this year grant
monies will provide the program free to children. It includes free
breakfast and lunches, free tuition, and free club participations. Parents
and guardians of any student residing in public or private schools in
the area may obtain an application, fill it out, and send it back to
their school or to the county or city school district offices. Ben
Guest, program manager of Mississippi Teacher Corps, said classes begin
Tuesday, June 8, and end Friday, July 9. Students attend classes from 7
a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and then may opt to participate in
after-school clubs, he said. The extended-year
school program is designed for children who failed a subject, for those
who passed a subject but want to improve in the subject for state
testing, and for kids who want to take courses for enrichment, Guest
said. Courses offered include: English - 7th and
8th grade and English I, II, III, IV; math for 7th and 8th grades,
pre-algebra and algebra I; biology, U.S. history; and Mississippi
studies. Clubs will be offered in drama, photography, ACT preparation,
film, computer, chess, step, art and others. Students must be enrolled
in class to participate in a club. Students who
have participated in the extended-year summer program have demonstrated
an 80 percent improvement in test scores (pre-test, post-test). The
extended-year summer program is taught by new Teacher Corps trainees as
well as second-year experienced Teacher Corps instructors, McConnell
said. “It’s our opportunity to give back,”
McConnell said. “It provides training to our incoming teachers and
second-year teachers are lead teachers. It benefits us as well as the
Holly Springs and Marshall County students.” Students
must provide their own transportation. First served students will be
those in any school in Marshall County, public or private. If classes
do not fill to capacity, students from surrounding counties will be
allowed to enroll. All students currently in
grades 7-12 are encouraged to participate whether they need to make
up a course they have failed or to improve their understanding of a
course or whether they take a course for enrichment. “We feel it will improve academic performance in the districts,” McConnell said.
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