New DeKalb-Elgin program offers schoolchildren summer enrichment

DeKALB – DeKalb School District 428 and the Boys and Girls Club of Elgin are joining forces on a summer enrichment program, meant to help give DeKalb area children and their families another option this season.

The idea was spurred after a recent site visit to the Boys and Girls Club of Elgin, which school officials said went so well it prompted a memorandum of understanding which was approved this week.

Billy Hueramo, the district’s director of teaching and learning – elementary, said the new summer enrichment program offering comes at a perfect time for area children and their families.

“At first, it had nothing to do with the pool not being there,” Hueramo said. “This is an added benefit for our kids. … It was going to happen, regardless.”

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The summer school aftercare enrichment program, which will run from noon to 5 p.m., is expected take place from May 30 through June 26, school board documents show. Breakfast and lunch will be provided to participating students.

Hueramo said students who take part in the enrichment program can expect a lot of variety, and include activities featuring science, technology, engineering, arts and math learning (STEAM).

“It’ll be a lot of hands-on things – getting them outside, doing physical activities,” Hueramo said. “They want to do activities at Lions Park, as well. They’re going to incorporate STEAM.”

In its inaugural run, Hueramo said programming will be capped at 150 students, from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade. He said participation in the program is first come, first served.

“It’s a pilot to see how successful it is,” Hueramo said. “We’ll get feedback from our parents to see how they liked it because once we open up Mitchell Elementary, we’d like to have it there and then see if we can have it expand more it depending on how well it goes and how much participation we get from our families in our community.”

The district has been sending out flyers to families through the district’s Skyward platform, officials said. Originally, the enrichment program was limited to those in summer academy but has since been expanded to students districtwide.

Hueramo said transportation will be provided for students enrolled in summer academy only.

The program, while it is free for students, is paid for by the district using $128,250 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III grant funds, school board documents show.

Superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez heaped praise on the benefits of participating in a Boys and Girls Club at a young age.

“I highly recommend it coming from someone who actually participated as a youth, next to someone else who also did the same thing,” Garcia-Sanchez said. “I think it’s really important how things can change and how somebody can feel really connected to themselves and to others at their own age in a very positive environment.”