Summer School is Fun

Editor's Note: Angel Linteau, Middle School Summer Enrichment Program Coordinator, sent us this essay written by seventh grader Brandan Gianni about this amazing new program going on now. The grant-funded program, said Linteau, is "all technology-based and students have voluntarily enrolled in order to take advantage of fun, creative, and exciting classes." Over 60 kids are participating.

A new Enrichment program is springing up from the grounds of SHMS. The program runs from Tuesday-Friday July 10-July 27 and is run by Mrs. Linteau. This is year one for the program and the middle school is excited for the students to take a variety of classes to enhance their learning creatively. “I think it’s really fun and I want to do it again,” says a participating student. “It will help the students grow talents, and I think that the kids that didn’t try the program this year should do it next year.”

Each class is lead by a different teacher and has a final project that they will be presenting at the end of the three weeks. A Final Project is a class project that will take them the entire three weeks of school to make and present. Some of these classes include...

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING: Mechanical Engineering is taught by Ms. Albukerk, and their Final Project is to create five Rube Goldberg machines that do very simple tasks. Examples are knocking down an object, ringing a bell, dropping Mentos into a Diet Coke bottle, popping a balloon, and raising an object into the air.

FILM MAKING: Film Making is taught by Ms. Pompa, and their final project is to create a silent film. A silent film is a film with actors but no sound. They use facial expressions, body movements, and gestures to convey a message. When they are finished they will record it and present it as their final project.

ART IN MEDIA: Art in Media is taught by Ms. Keith and this class has TWO final projects. The first Final project is to paint something that is important to them. The second final project is to pick a modern-day pop star and paint them. They will present their pieces of art at the end of the program.

DIGITAL JOURNALISM: Digital Journalism is taught by Mrs. Morisset, and their Final project is to create three articles for an online newspaper focusing on Local, National, and International news.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Photography is taught by Ms. Alvarez. Students are making photography books based around the theme of summer. The photographers in the class have taken photographs of bugs, clouds, and flowers. Their project will end with a book of their photography, edited by iPhoto in the Mac lab.

ENGLISH COMPOSITION: English Composition is taught by Ms. Goldberg. Ms. Goldberg has students working on original stories, as well as fan fiction. In the end, students will produce various projects that include art, stories, and plays based on students’ interests.

So you see, the SHMS Enrichment Program is useful to students in multiple ways. One of them is that the students could learn something new about the different classes, for example, engineering or creating a Silent Film. Overall, it is a great program.. The best part is that it’s Free!

- Brandan Gianni, grade 7