The first day of school for D.C. Public Schools is still three weeks away, but Monday many middle and high schools opened their doors to incoming students to help them make friends and familiarize themselves with their new campus and teachers.
The DCPS Summer Bridge program is a week-long immersion program for transitioning sixth and ninth graders to prepare them before the start of the academic year.
Damontae Neclos, a senior at McKinley Tech School, is acting as a student ambassador, helping students of the class of 2028 find their way around the building and connecting them with teachers.
“I know when I was a freshman, I was kind of nervous coming into the school ... So I just wanted to, like, make it easier for the kids, you know, so they can have someone to talk to whenever they nervous, whenever the school year start,” he said.
D.C. Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee says Summer Bridge has been in place for high school freshmen for several years but was expanded to sixth graders last year.
“We see some great results. Our sixth-grade attendance was improved. We saw the chronic absenteeism was down and students passing their core courses also was up,” he said. “And we intend to build upon that for this group of sixth graders coming in.”
On Monday, Addyson Kennedy, a rising ninth grader at McKinley and a participant of Summer Bridge, took her first step to achieve her goal for the next four years.
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“I'm just trying to stay focused, because my goal is to be the valedictorian of my class, and it's doing what I'm supposed to do,” she said.
Ferebee urges parents who haven’t already to register their kids with their schools as soon as possible and ensure their immunizations are up to date.
