Power Scholars Academy
Through a partnership between BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) and the Heart of the Valley YMCA, Power Scholars Academy™ offers summer learning for youth in grades K-8. Program goals include increasing students’ academic success and boosting self-confidence, while also engaging families in the education process. The summer learning program is designed to address summer learning loss for children living in under-resourced areas and thereby enhance overall youth development, academic performance, and graduation rates in the community.
Program Information
Did you know that children can lose up to two months of learning during the summer? To prevent this “summer learning loss,” the Heart of the Valley YMCA offers Power Scholars Academy.
Power Scholars is a five-week summer learning program for children, mainly from low-income households, who are entering first through second grades. Research indicates that children from low-income households reach kindergarten unprepared and continue to fall behind in school, especially over summer breaks. Without intervention, the achievement and opportunity gap widens, often culminating in low high school and college graduation rates and limited job prospects. Power Scholars Academy is designed to tackle this summer learning loss through rigorous math and reading instruction, while also fostering physical, social and emotional growth through field trips and career exploration.
In 2021, children in the program gained 3+ months of reading and 2.5 months of math proficiency rather than losing two months of learning during the summer.
Program Partners
The Heart of the Valley YMCA raises all funds for the program with the help of community partners and provides scholarships to each student so there is no cost to them or their families. It costs approximately $1500 for each student in the program.
2022 partners included:
- Friends of New Market
- New Market Elementary
- Cherokee Elementary
- Guntersville City Schools
- Huntsville/Madison Community Foundation
- The Community Foundation of Greater Huntsville
- BellXcel
- 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant
Contact Information
| Contact Name | Dr. Libby Parker |
|---|---|
| libby.parker@ymcahuntsville.org | |
| Phone | 256.428.9622 Ext. 3013 |