Academic Enrichment Grant 2023-2024 Project Summary

Kristy Rudan

Syringa Middle School • Caldwell, ID

Living in poverty can leave students with a very limited scope of what the world holds and deprive students of opportunities to acquire exposure, supports, and the skills necessary to not just succeed, but to thrive. PAWS (Pursuit of Advancement in Worldly Skills) Enrichment Program is intentionally designed to bring opportunities to our high-poverty population to develop transferable life skills, and to connect them to potential future careers. This program initiates daily morning enrichment program, 4 times per week for 25 minutes (100 minutes total), for every student.

Students will be provided with a menu of 17-20 options available school-wide each day for a total of 73 enrichment options each week. The enrichment options available help students develop into well-rounded, experienced individuals. Enrichments are planned to include social-emotional skills development, discovering how to grow and maintain a small garden, learning to cook and sew, coding, robotics, drones, sign language lessons, creative music sessions, video editing, painting, podcasting, disc golf, and creating both macramé and woven décor. This grant will propel enrichment opportunities to the next level by purchasing the much needed supplies to support extensions and additional enrichments.

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