LEXINGTON, Ky. — It's called the Summer Ignite Program. Fayette County Public Schools executed this as a supplemental student learning program in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
What You Need To Know
- Summer programs are returning to schools
- Fayette County Public Schools kicked off the Summer Ignite Program this week
- Students are eager to be in the classroom after a year of transitions
- Between 6,000-7,000 students enrolled in first of three sessions at FCPS
At least 70 students attended the first session at the Athens-Chilesburg Elementary school.
In one classroom, they’re learning about sharks this week using virtual reality goggles. Down the hall in another room, older elementary students are in the makeshift ring using battle robots to pop balloons.
“In my wildest dreams I would never have thought that it would have been taken to this point,” said Tyson Steelman, assistant principal at the elementary school.
He said his students are just hungry to learn.
“The kid's response to it just puts a smile back on your face,” Steelman said.
He’s referring to the Summer Ignite Program where students learn about science, technology, engineering and math topics.
“We've had kids even said ‘I can't wait to come back for the next day’, just because they're starving to learn. But that coupled, on top of what the teachers have designed to allow kids to be engaged to do things from virtual reality to engineering to messing with robots, these kids are more engaged now, and they don't even know they're learning,” Steelman said.
After a year of transitioning, Steelman said teachers at Fayette County Public Schools designed summer programs to literally ignite learning into young minds.
“Going from virtual back to in-person, then back to virtual, there's so many transitions that they've had to go through, and then you add a summer program to that,” Steelman said. “I think now more than ever, kids are just starving to be around other students, starving to learn, starving to be back into some type of normal routine and learning, as we all know, we've grown up with, that's the that is normal as it gets.”
District wide, between 6,000 to 7,000 students are enrolled in the just first of three sessions, paving the way for the upcoming school year.
“The thing that I know we've done our job is when kids say, ‘I didn't even know we were learning’ and that's the thing that you want because their intention is, they're engaged in it, they're in the moment, and they're back to doing what they love to do,” Steelman said.
The school district wrapped the first session this week. The next two sessions will pick up after the Fourth of July holiday.