Kick-start Summer Fun at Enrichment Summer Launch

by Corbrae Smith, Enrichment Coordinator, Alma Academy

There’s a reason we call it enrichment. To enrich is to improve the quality or usefulness of something by adding something to it – to make richer. At Rocketship, we strive to make Rocketeers literacy whizzes and math masters, but we also know a truly rich education doesn’t stop there. Every day we work to make Rocketeers’ academic experience better and more useful with classes like art, music and Spanish, and for the first time this year, we’re highlighting exactly how we do it.

On June 5th, 2015 from 6-8pm, we invite parents, students and everyone in the Rocketship network to our first ever Enrichment Summer Launch at Brilliant Minds. Join four of our Bay Area schools – Alma Academy, Discovery Prep, Brilliant Minds and Fuerza Community Prep – as we share and celebrate not just what our Enrichment Center Coordinators (ECCs) do, but what amazing things Rocketeers accomplish outside the traditional classroom.

Rocketeers enjoy a wide variety of enrichment programs, from gardening to martial arts.

Bring the whole family out for an exhibition-night-turned-carnival! Grab some food while you feast your eyes on student artwork, then check out what Rocketeers are learning in Health Science. Catch stellar presentations and performances, including Rocketeer dancers showing off their Hula and hip-hop talent. In fact, you’ll see how while every school has a P.E. program, every school has their own take on keeping students fit, from games and team sports to martial arts.

Most importantly, you’ll see why our enrichment programs are so crucial to Rocketeers’ education. We build on the lessons and values Rocketeers learn in literacy and math, then give them skills to broaden their horizons and flex their creativity. When Rocketeers make art, they’re not just drawing pictures – they’re learning about art history and how artistic movements correspond to or even shape world events. When they’re playing basketball, they’re practicing teamwork and building core values like persistence. Loads of research and general intuition reminds us that when students exercise regularly and have creative outlets, they’re more likely to excel and be invested in their academic endeavors.

Our enrichment programs also celebrate our communities’ rich cultures.

Join us this June and our ECCs will show you how we’re just like every other hardworking teacher. We share knowledge, teach invaluable life skills and serve as coaches and mentors – not to mention we have to plan for every grade. Like our other teachers, ECCs play a huge part in teaching the whole child, so kids learn not just to be good students, but good people.

Come to see the culmination of your Rocketeers’ amazing work from this year. Come to kick off your summer full of new ideas to keep kids’ brains and bodies active. Finally, come to be part of the first step to making our enrichment programs bigger and better for everyone.

For more information or to get involved with our enrichment extravaganza, contact Rebecca Solomon at rsolomon@rsed.org.

Corbrae Smith is an art-specific Enrichment Center Coordinator at Rocketship Alma Academy. He Attended the Academy of Art University of San Francisco, where he studied traditional illustration. In his first year at Rocketship, he enjoys teaching the Rocketeers the fundamentals of art and seeing them create projects they can present proudly. He lives in Oakland, where he can be close to the growing east bay art scene. 

Published on May 13, 2015