School Days
Partners in After School
and Summer Programs
By Laura Correa-Hernandez, PIO, Gilroy Unified School District
O
ver the years, Gilroy Unified School District and its
partners have fine-tuned the after school and summer
camp programs that serve local youth. It takes a lot of
planning, collaboration, and commitment to create such opportu-
nities for extended education. The smiles and laughter of students
as they engage with these programs makes it all worthwhile.
The school district’s Power School After School and Super
Power Summer Camp programs have become the high-quality
models they are today because of the contributions of Mt.
Madonna YMCA, Youth Alliance, and South County Cal-SOAP.
Amanda Reedy, GUSD Program Administrator of After School
Programs, said the district’s model is designed so that participat-
ing students benefit from the strengths of each agency, regardless
of which school site they attend.
“We collaborated to design our strategic plan, use common
measurement tools to ensure the same high quality across all
sites, and provide training to all staff regardless of which agency
they work for…to have a collective impact on the youth of
Gilroy,” Reedy said.
Program activities are designed to build confidence, self-
sufficiency, academic success, and social responsibility. They also
address the needs of K through 8 students who struggle academ-
ically or are in one or more of the following categories: English
learner, low-income, foster youth, migrant, and/or homeless.
The After School Program offers support with academics
and homework, a healthy snack, recreation time to encourage
a physically active lifestyle, and extra-curricular enrichment
activities. Students in the summer program enjoy creative
learning and explore academic ambitions while achieving an
important goal—avoiding summer learning loss. The success of
both programs has made them a model for replication by other
expanded learning programs across the state.
The programs are aligned with the school district’s vision
that all students will be “college and career ready” with the
knowledge and skills to succeed in the 21st century workforce.
In support of this vision, all staff members from each agency are
required to have earned either an Associate of Arts Degree or 48
college credits.
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
The 2nd Annuall
THINGAMAJIG Invention
Convention hosted by Super
Power Summer Camp and
Mt. Madonna YMCA last July
at Antonio Del Bouno Elementary
School. Students created projects
that demonstrate learning in
Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math (STEM).
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017
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