In just a few short weeks, we will launch our 25th Horizons summer enrichment program, and we could not be more excited! We will be incorporating many long-standing traditions, such as field trip Fridays, an ice cream social with our families, water slides, and so much more. In addition, we will host a few new events this summer to commemorate our 25th anniversary. Our students are really excited as well! When we held our end-of-school-year tutoring party at Knapp Elementary in early May, I asked our students who was excited about Horizons starting, and they all raised their hands immediately!
This summer features many firsts:
- We will launch a new academic program called IXL to help us get a more in-depth understanding of where our students need academic support.
- Our high school program will run the week before our Pre-K—eighth grade program. This year our high school program will spend one and one-half days at the REDI Lab Aimee and Jonathan Coleman Center, engaged in Design Thinking projects with CannonDesign and the Denver Housing Authority. They will also take part in an overnight trip led by Colorado Academy staff members Miriah Royal and Sara Monterroso.
- We are collaborating with the Carmel Hill Foundation to continue one-on-one tutoring support that they already have in place during the school year at Knapp Elementary.
- We are collaborating with Denver Test Prep to bring hands-on STEM enrichment to our Kindergarten through fourth grade students once a week.
- Our board will be hosting “Horizons Hustle,” an event in which our students will be able to showcase all of their physical fitness achievements.
Some of our time-honored traditions include:
- Back-to-Horizons Night, in which we get to show our work and meet one-on-one with parents
- Fourth grade continuation and eighth grade graduation
- Field trip Fridays this year will include trips to an animal sanctuary called Luvin’ Arms, gardening with Front Line Farming, the Denver Zoo, the Children’s Museum, and so much more!
- Our Henning Health & Wellness program will include paddle boarding, rock climbing, lacrosse, basketball, baseball, and Sticky Fingers, to name a few activities.
In terms of staff, we have amazing staff members who are returning, and brilliant new staff who will be joining us for the first time. As noted, we have much to look forward to! A million thanks to our donors who make this all possible! Look out for our weekly newsletters during the summer to hear all about how our students are doing and all of the ways in which they are engaging with Horizons and our community!