Horizons Supports National Summer Learning Week

From Horizons at New Canaan Country School: School’s out! Summer fun and learning are in! Horizons at New Canaan Country School joins the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) in celebrating National Summer Learning Week, a celebration during the week of July 8 to 13 dedicated to elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe, and healthy every summer; ensuring young people return to school ready to succeed. Each day of Summer Learning Week is devoted to a different critical summer issue, from the enriching possibilities of STEM (science of, technology, engineering and mathematics) to arts programming, to summertime programs that strengthen career development skills for young people. Horizons at New Canaan Country School also joins communities everywhere in calling out the importance of reading and access to good nutrition as part of the formula for an enriching and healthy summer.

This is the 55th year of the Horizons at New Canaan Country School Summer Program, which provides up to 264 underserved children in grades K-8 from Norwalk and Stamford with six-weeks of academic and enrichment programming. Our program is designed to mitigate the summer learning decline that disproportionately affects under-resourced students and instead offers literacy and math support, along with swimming lessons, arts, sports, and community building events to help students grow to their full potential and grow academically over the summer. “Summer provides a great opportunity for our Horizons students to learn new skills, discover new strengths, and have new experiences, all while being part of a caring and nurturing community,” said Nancy von Euler, Executive Director of Horizons at New Canaan Country School. The learning that begins in the Summer Program continues during the school year with our School Year Programming as well as our High School Program services and support for 9-12 graders as well. The Horizons program inspires learning, encourages success and helps to close the opportunity gap.

National Summer Learning Week aims to unite community organizations, summer learning programs, and families in advocacy efforts and celebrations hosted by hundreds of partner organizations from libraries to museums, parks and recreation centers to civic and non-profit groups all to promote awareness of the power and magic of summer programs to close opportunity gaps among youth throughout the nation.

“We know that summer learning loss is real, but we should not place so much of our focus narrowly on the summer academic slide that we ignore the many other “lost opportunity” summer issues that impact children’s physical, mental and emotional well-being,” said Aaron Philip Dworkin, NSLA CEO.

Recent research from the Rand Corporation and The Wallace Foundation, along with the Aspen Institute and many NSLA award-winning programs, highlight the impact and potential of high-quality, well-organized programs to transform the lives of young people.

“Summer programs provide a unique space in education to pilot, partner, and close our nation’s educational and opportunity gaps,” said Dworkin. “By coming together as a national community, dedicated to the future success of our youth, we can ensure all kids in America, regardless of zip code and socioeconomic status, receive the opportunity to keep learning and growing all summer and all year long.”

NSLA’s website supports promotion of National Summer Learning Week with an events tracker, and robust resources for families, summer programs providers, and municipal leaders – all to help keep kids healthy and engaged during the summer break.

About Horizons at New Canaan Country School

Founded in 1964, Horizons at New Canaan Country School is the first in a nationwide network of programs that are successfully closing the opportunity gap experienced by under-resourced students. Horizons at NCCS builds deep and lasting relationships with the more than 400 K-12 Norwalk and Stamford students it serves. The six-week Summer Program and year-round academic and enrichment programming helps students imagine and achieve a brighter future for themselves. For more information, please visit www.horizonskids.org.

About National Summer Learning Association

The National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) is the only national nonprofit exclusively focused on closing the achievement gap by increasing access to high-quality summer learning opportunities. NSLA recognizes and disseminates what works in summer learning, develops and delivers capacity-building offerings and convenes and empowers key actors to embrace summer learning as a solution for equity and excellence in education. For more information, visit www.summerlearning.org.